Around the Table
Math Team Makes History S T U D E N T S E A R N TO P F I V E S C O R E S AT N AT I O N A L O LY M P I A D
T
he pre-eminence of Exeter’s math program is well established, but
VIVAN CHEN/THE EXONIAN
this spring PEA students achieved a first in the history of the school’s participation in math competitions. At the USA Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) held in April, members of PEA’s Math Team earned five of the top 12 highest-ranking scores in the nation, including one perfect score. The top-place finishers included Ravi Jagadeesan ’14,Yong Wook “Spencer” Kwon ’12, Ray Y. Li ’13, David H.Yang ’13 (one of two winners who tied with a perfect score) and Shijie “Joy” Zheng ’11. Upper
PEA Places Sixth in National Science Bowl From April 28 through May 2, PEA’s National Science Bowl Team of In Young Cho ’11, Jonathon Cai ’12,Alan W. Dong ’12 and Abraham Shin ’12 competed against 68 other regional
Jonathon Cai, In Young Cho, Abraham Shin, Alan Dong and club adviser Hunter Farnham in D.C. Joy Zheng, Spencer Kwon, Ray Li, Ravi Jagadeesan, and David Yang.
Dai Yang also placed high in the rankings, earning an honorable mention. Exeter’s six winners were among only 293 high school students who qualified for the USAMO out of an initial pool of more than 220,000 students worldwide who competed in a sequence of increasingly difficult math contests that led up to the prestigious olympiad. The USAMO challenge was a sixquestion, two-day, nine-hour essay/proof examination and required pre-calculus methods. The top 12 winners were honored on June 6 at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. PEA math instructor, Math Team adviser and Math Olympiad Coach Zuming Feng P’14 was surprised and very pleased with the outcome. “This year’s results are definitely the most [USAMO] winners and honorable mentions that Exeter has had in a single year,” he says. “More typical results from previous years for PEA were one or sometimes two winners and/or honorable mentions in a year. This is wonderful, wonderful news. I’m very happy for the students.” Steve Dunbar, director of the American Mathematics Competitions, located in Lincoln, NE, agrees: “For at least the last 20 years, I don’t ever recall having this number of students from any one school to have this number of participants win,” he says. “Usually each year, it’s two or three winners per school.This is a really big win for Phillips Exeter.” All six Exonians are eligible to participate in the AMC’s Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program, a three-week, invitation-only training camp that helps prepare the top scorers for the rigorous Team Selection Test (TST) for a chance to qualify for a seat on the U.S. team. This national team will compete in this year’s International Mathematical Olympiad in Amsterdam July 16-24, 2011. The combined TST and USAMO scores will determine which six students compete in the IMO.
tournament-winning National Science Bowl teams from around the country, Puerto Rico and the U.S.Virgin Islands. The team ultimately finished sixth in the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Championship Science Bowl, held in Washington, D.C., and won $1,000 for PEA, which they presented to Principal Tom Hassan. “It’s pretty thrilling,” says an excited Alan Dong of the Science Bowl experience. “Toward the later rounds, especially, the match often comes down to the last question. Since the questions get progressively harder, the scores become lower, and the game can turn around in a matter of seconds.” All 69 teams at the national championship earned their place by winning a regional qualifying tournament. PEA’s team triumphed over 23 regional teams, including the Academy’s second team, at the Northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont) regional qualifying tournament held in March.
SUMMER 2011
The Exeter Bulletin
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