B R I G H T   M I N D S

Why the olympic movement matters

Fields Medal
70% of the awardees of the Fields medal* were former winners of international math olympiads.
*Fields medal - the highest award in mathematics.

Source: Mathematical Association of America .

The problem of scarcity

Olympic classes are very demanding with respect to the instructors, and the pool of potential instructors is essentially limited to former competitive performers and professionals with special preparation. This human resource is scarce even in big nations, but in case of Armenia it is also mostly scattered around the world. Therefore, aside from a handful of top class, mostly private high schools, competitive in-person olympic classes in Armenian schools are unrealistic.
This suggests that remote olympic classes that bring together students from different schools and instructors worldwide might be the only practically feasible option.

95%

Of international olympic medals

Won by the students of
5 elite schools.

1.000

Approx. number of all schools

Only 0.02% contributes to olympic medal wins.

<0.1%

Instructors / lecturers

Regular vs. Olympic class teachers in Armenia.

The history of olympic movement

The past and present of olympic movement in Armenia and Worldwide.

How it started

The first academic olympiads

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre-university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, with participants from more than 100 countries.

The current state - Worldwide

The olympic movement today

There are 16 commonly recognized International Science Olympiads currently, with the majority in the STEM field. The competitions are designed for the 4-6 best high school students from each participating country selected through internal National Science Olympiads.

The Current State - Armenia

The Olympic Movement in Armenia.

The movement has a history spanning several decades, stemmed from the times of the Soviet Union. Armenian students have won medals in math, physics, astronomy and informatics international olympiads*. As mentioned earlier, only 10% of our students' potential is being realized and the medal winners are students of 5-6 elite schools. The Bright Minds project is meant to change the status quo and make the international level olympic classes accessible to Armenian students from all regions of Armenia, Artsakh and ultimately, worldwide.

*Visit olymp.am website for the most accurate and detailed information available regarding school olympiads at all levels in Armenia.

Be a part of change

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