From the moment she went to school, it was pretty clear that the little Zury Tlapanco Reyes was a natural in solving mathematical issues. The 8-year-old child prodigy from Mexico was recently invited to compete at the worldwide 2019 ALOHA Mental Arithmetic Competition in Guangzhou, China, which is basically a world championship maths event for children under a certain age.

Zury won the championship with ease, as she solved 70 math problems in under five minutes.

At the ALOHA event, calculators aren’t allowed – meaning that this little girl managed to solve all of these problems by doing the calculations in her head. When the talented young elementary school student returned to her home town of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, she received nothing less than a hero’s welcome.

This world championship definitely isn’t Zury’s first accomplishment – she’s won plenty of national competitions in the past, which all led to her being invited to this worldwide event.

More than 900 children competed and no less than 35 countries were represented in the competition.

The math problems that are presented in the competition need to be solved via the ALOHA-method, which is short for Abacus Learning of Higher Arithmetic. It’s a learning system specially developed for children between 5 and 13 years old, not only giving them the necessary methods to solve common math problems but using the ALOHA-method also increases focus and memory skills.

The most important factor of the ALOHA-method, however, is that everything is done without any extra tools or devices such as a calculator. To solve problems, you only need your head!

Zury and her parents spoke to the press after her impressive victory, although some things are a bit lost in translation due to the local Chinese and Mexican reporters. According to Upworthy, Zury told reporters that she’d always loved mathematics and even though competing at this level would require a lot of invested time and sacrifice, the little girl didn’t mind simply because she enjoyed mathematics.

Even though the translations are pretty iffy, the little girl reportedly didn’t even need five minutes – she solved the whole test in less than two.

Of course, Zury’s parents couldn’t be more proud of her.

They also thanked her supporters for helping them travel across half the globe for the competition. The 8-year-old was presented with a “Grand Champion” trophy, which is given to all children in the competition who can solve the set of problems in under five minutes. Multiple children received one of these “Grand Champion” trophies, although Zury did manage to get the number one spot.

Zury’s homecoming was an absolutely amazing moment, as dozens of friends, family members, and even fans were waiting for her to come home.

Everyone was waiting at the Tampico International Airport, Mexico, and when she finally arrived back home everyone was chanting her name! Zury was overwhelmed by the love and support, and definitely enjoyed her hero’s welcome.

Just before Zury made the trip to the competition in China, she had to make a stop to meet Presidente Municipal Alma Laura Amparán Cruz. In the picture above, you can spot her and a fellow AHOLA-competitor from Mexico who’s also a national champion, just like Zury.

What an absolutely impressive feat! You can check out Zury’s homecoming video below.

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Source: Forbes Mexico, Upworthy, ALOHA