Greely teen wins top scholarship for math
Posted Jan 26, 2012 By Emma Jackson
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A Greely teen is one of three high school students in Canada to win the most prestigious undergraduate scholarship in the country, sending him to England's Cambridge University next fall to study math. 
Emma Jackson, Metroland
Jim Rickards, left, said his son James will be among his true peers when he begins studying math at Cambridge University next fall, on a $150,000 scholarship. James is one of three in Canada to win the scholarship.
James Rickards, a Grade 12 Colonel By Secondary School student who lives off Manotick Station Road, found out early January that he had won the Blyth Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholarship, worth $150,000 over his three year undergraduate degree. It covers tuition, living expenses, travel, and food.
Rickards is one of 40 math students accepted to Trinity Hall at the university, a college founded in the 1500s that boasts such famous alumni as Isaac Newton, Bertrand Russell, Prince Charles, and six British prime ministers.
Rickards said he was "very happy" to win the scholarship - but for anyone who knows him, the accomplishment is not surprising.
Growing up, Rickards' father helped him practice mental math skills outside his normal homework. By the time he graduated elementary school, he had finished Ontario's entire high school math curriculum through self-study, and subsequent competency tests allowed him to skip math in high school and instead study one-on-one with University of Ottawa math professors.
Professor Barry Jessup helped Rickards learn first and second-year mathematics when he was in Grade 10. Jessup said Rickards is "exceptionally hard working."
"He has an enormous future, there's no question," he said.
By Grade 10 Rickards had written an original math paper on polynomials outlining his discoveries on the topic. In April 2011, the paper was published in the American Mathematical Monthly, a well-read trade magazine that usually publishes works from professional math researchers with Ph.Ds in their subject area.
In Grade 11, Rickards brought the International Tournament of Towns math contest to Ottawa.
He organized the students, the adjudicating professors, and the event details so that students in Ottawa wouldn't have to drive to Toronto to participate. This led Mayor Jim Watson and Osgoode Coun. Doug Thompson to write a community reference letter for Rickards' Cambridge scholarship application this fall.
"I'm very proud of him," Thompson said. "I've never encountered someone with those abilities."
In July, Rickards was part of Canada's six-student math team at the International Mathematical Olympiad in Amsterdam, where he won a silver medal.
All of this put Rickards ahead of his peers in the very competitive race for the Blyth scholarship, said Rickards' father Jim.
"We looked at his resume and it was pretty strong. Nobody writes math papers in Grade 10 and gets them published," he said. "Of course, all the finalists would have good marks, but he had all these extra things. I was nervous about him not making it but if he didn't make it I would be scratching my head and wondering why."
The scholarship is key to Rickards' future, without it, he likely wouldn't be able to accept his spot at Cambridge.
"If I didn't get the scholarship I probably wouldn't go. It's not the tuition, it's more the residence expenses and living costs. If it was a university over here with the same tuition I might be able to go, but it was just too expensive," Rickards said.
Other options included Harvard University in Boston and the Michigan Institute of Technology.
Rickards said he's excited to move to England in September, even if it means leaving home far behind. "The only place I've been in Europe is Amsterdam for the math competition. So getting to see a whole different part of the world will be a lot of fun," he said.
No one else from Rickards' school is going to Cambridge University, but Rickards said he knows a few people in his program through math competitions and other events.
His father said apart from the worldly experience of living overseas, Rickards is sure to benefit from finally being among his peers.
"It's a pretty big deal. For the first time he's going to be studying with people of his own ability, and we knew that was the place for him," he said. Rickards said he'll likely become a professor or a math researcher, working in theoretical math rather than math with real-world applications.
Rickards leaves mid-September to start classes in October.
emma.jackson@metroland.com
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