If math has never been your strong suit, you’re not alone. But kids around the world are learning to do arithmetic in their heads through a program called ALOHA. And a competition for ALOHA students held this summer in China saw many young children performing an impressive number of computations in under 5 minutes.

One of those kids is 8-year-old Zury Tlapanco Reyes from Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. She won a Grand Champion title at the 2019 ALOHA Mental Arithmetic Competition in Guangzhou, China in July 2019 by solving 70 math problems in under 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, we’re still adding the tips to our restaurant checks on our fingers.

But Zury doesn’t need her fingers or a calculator to do math – she completed all of those problems correctly in her head.

A seemingly humble 8-year-old, Zury had already won local and national ALOHA competitions, but this was her first international success.

The young girl competed alongside roughly 900 children from 35 other nations who are all trained in the ALOHA method of mathematics.

ALOHA – which stands for Abacus Learning of Higher Arithmetic – encourages children between the ages of 5 and 13 to get a leg up on their math skills by teaching focus and memory to solve problems rather than relying on external devices such as calculators.

According to Upworthy, Zury and her parents spoke to the press after her win and the young girl played down any sacrifices she had to make in order to pursue academics. She simply said it was all worth it because she truly enjoyed what she was doing.

Her parents expressed pride in their daughter’s achievement and thanked everyone who played a role in both her mathematics training and getting her to the other side of the world to compete in China’s international competition.

Upon returning to Mexico on July 24th, Zury was greeted at the Tampico International Airport by friends and family chanting her name and cheering as she emerged from the gate with her trophy in hand.

And while her accomplishment is certainly something to be celebrated, there are multiple “Grand Champions” named in ALOHA competitions. Trophies go to any child who can complete the 70-problem set correctly in under 5 minutes. In fact, out of the 79 children from Mexico who participated in the competition, 13 of them took home a “Grand Champion” title.

But that doesn’t take anything away from the accomplishment and dedication of this talented 6th-grader.

Prior to her trip to China, Zury and another local National Champion-level AHOLA mathematician – got to meet Presidente Municipal Alma Laura Amparán Cruz, who congratulated both girls on their accomplishments.

According to some reports, Zury managed to solve all 70 problems in just 2 minutes, although the translations from Chinese and Mexican news outlets have resulted in many different interpretations of the victory and its circumstances.

The first ALOHA school opened in Ipoh, Malaysia in 1993, but these programs are now all over the world, empowering students to enjoy and master computational skills as well as improve their memories and analytical abilities.

Be sure to scroll down below to see the hero’s welcome Zury received upon returning home from China in July.

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Source: Forbes México, ALOHA Mental Arithmetic, Upworthy