Maria Panaitopol, a Romanian teacher, organises math competitions each year and offers money prizes that she pays from her pension. The competitions are made to honour her husband, who was also a math professor at the Bucharest Mathematics University and editor at the Math Gazette.
According to greatnews.ro, Maria Panaitopol, who is now 70 years old, still teaches every day.
She said
” It is the joy of my life, something that makes me resist, it is great to do something you love all your life. And when I go into the classroom and talk to children, it seems to me that there is nothing else in the world, and anyway, nothing more important than what happens in there.”
She named the competition “Laurentiu Panaitopol” to honour her husband. Every year, the winner of the Math National Competition wins 1,000 dollars and this money are paid from her own pocket.
She said
” I think this is useful, not just for the money and value, but for them to see that work is rewarded”.
She praised her husband
” My husband was loved by all his students, by the people he worked with, always his classrooms were full and other students were coming from different classes to his. He was doing things with passion.
Maria Panaitopol has no children but she sees her students as her own. Since she started the competition, over 700 students from 17 counties have participated at the “Laurentiu Panaitopol” competition.
source: greatnews
positivenewsromania.com 
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