Parsa was intrigued by math Olympiads already in elementary school, which is when he contacted a teacher who soon became his mentor. Throughout his competition era, he loved exploring topics outside of the usual Olympiad syllabus, an unusual approach he recommends to others. He is now ready to leave his Olympiad years behind and dive into all things shapes related, like algebraic topology, during university. Outside of maths, Parsa enjoys mountaineering and would love to learn Russian and read Dostoyevsky in its original script.

We caught up before he started university (interview edited for length and clarity):