High Schoolers with a Passion for Math By Julia Goode Math Club and Mu Alpha Theta sponsor
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ath-letes in the SAS High School have had a busy year. Whether competing, giving and listening to presentations at Math Club, helping elementary kids prepare for the math Olympiad, or tutoring others in their spare time— the students who are passionate about math use their skills to enrich themselves and the SAS community. This year, members of Math Club and Mu Alpha Theta tutored approximately 40 students in the high school and middle school. The members’ passion for math encouraged those students for whom math does not come easily. It was a good year for math service. In the first semester, three teams of students ages 15 and under attended the Singapore International Schools Mathematics Competition at Tanglin Trust School. Two SAS teams placed, earning second and fifth places out of the 18 teams in attendance. Our highest scoring individual was Winston Yoo, who placed third. Last fall, eight new members were inducted into Mu Alpha Theta, the National Math Honor Society, by current members and sponsor Julie Goode. The new members are Viraj Bindra, Hyeong-Sun Cho, Joon Ho Kim, Oliver Kim, Ji Su Lee, Sonia Mirchandani, Alex SchindeleMurayam, and Yien Wu. Induction into Mu Alpha Theta is highly selective and requires scholarship, passion, and service. Members are expected to serve as peer math tutors throughout the year. Math Club gives students opportunities to compete in international competitions. Students competed in the National Assessment and Testing 2010 Ciphering Time Trials, where our highest finisher was Sam Park in sixth place. In the NAT Fall Start-Up Event, Alex Schindeleg placed twelfth. In the Mandelbrot Competition, which is a five-test format that runs over the course of the school year, our top finisher was Sam Park who placed a commendable sixth in his division. Our top finishers by grade at SAS were Han Joon Byun (grade 9), Tanvi Ahuja (grade 10), Alex Schindele-Murayama (grade 11), and Sam Park, (grade 12). The students competed in fun and challenging team competitions throughout the year. In the second semester, six of our top young mathematicians were chosen to attend the South East Asia Mathematics Competition in Brunei. Attending were two teams that included Tanvi Ahuja, Han Joon Byun, Kei Hyogo, Christina Lee, Bharath Srivatsa, and Winston Yoo. The teams finished in 12th and 39th place in this very difficult competition that involved 78 teams and 41 schools from 9 countries. Our top individual finisher was Bharath Srivatsan in 13th place. The American Mathematics Contest (AMC) is held each spring in high schools all over the globe. At SAS, math
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NewsFlash SINGAPORE AMERICAN SCHOOL
teachers select 120 kids to sit for either the AMC10 (grades 9 and 10) or the AMC12 (grades 11 and 12). Sam Park scored high enough to qualify for the next, more difficult level of competition—the AIME. According to Sam, “This is the fun one, because all the problems are more challenging.” He has qualified for the AIME every year since grade 8 and has been our top scorer at either the AMC10 or AMC12 each year. He has posted some pretty impressive statistics, including a perfect AMC10 in his sophomore year. The AMC12 contest is also used as our IASAS math competition. Our varsity squad placed third in a contest decided by only 4.5 points. Sam Park earned a bronze medal individually. Other students on the IASAS varsity math team were Alex Schindele-Murayama (11), Yu Jian Wu (11), Min Jae Lee (12), Edith Enright (9). Our top competitor for the AMC10 was Tanvi Ahuja (10) who along with Alex Schindele barely missed qualifying for the AIME contest. Congratulations to all our math-letes on a very good year.