Congratulations to AMC10/12 students

Congratulations to the following Albany Area Math Circle students who have qualified for the 2009 American Invitational Math Exam (AIME), based on AMC10/12 exams taken in February with Albany Area Math Circle and/or at their schools. (If you took the AMC contest at your school and have not yet notified us of your AIME qualification, please let us know so you can be added to the list.)

Andrew Ardito, homeschool, Coxsackie
Matthew Babbitt, homeschool, Fort Edward
David Bieber, Niskayuna High School
Heidi Chen, Emma Willard School, Troy
Ashley Cho, Emma Willard School, Troy
Wilson Cheung, Scotia-Glenville High School
Peixuan Guo, Bethlehem High School
Preston Law, homeschool, Clifton Park
Zagreb Mukerjee, Guilderland High School
Paul Rapoport, Albany Academy
Markus Salasoo, Niskayuna High School
Liz Simon, Guilderland High School
Schuyler Smith, homeschool, Ballston Lake
Wyatt Smith, homeschool, Ballston Lake
Felix Sun, Shenendahoah High School, Clifton Park
Yipu Wang, Guilderland High School
Jay White, homeschool, Schenectady
Jason Xu, Niskayuna High School

Congratulations are also due to the following students who achieved scores qualifying for young student achievement national recognition (90 or above on the AMC12 for students in 10th grade or below; 90 or above on the AMC10 for students in 8th grade or below):

AMC12 Young Student Honors:
(90 or above in 10th grade or below)

Gili Ruscak 6th grade Loudonville Elementary
Jien Ogawa 7th grade homeschool
Matthew Babbitt 8th grade homeschool, Fort Edward
Greg Hickey 8th grade, Shaker Junior High
Preston Law 8th grade, homeschool, Clifton Park
Zubin Mukerjee, 8th grade, Farnsworth Middle School
Jay White, 10th grade, homeschool, Schenectady
Jason Xu, 10th grade, Niskayuna High School


AMC10 Young Student Honors:
(90 or above in 8th grade or below)

Martin Schreiner, 6th grade, Van Antwerp Middle School
Isaac Malsky 7th grade, Farnsworth Middle School
Aniket Tolpadi, 7th grade, Iroquois Middle School
Matthew Babbitt, 8th grade, homeschool, Fort Edward
Preston Law, 8th grade, homeschool, Cliton Park
Elizabeth Parizh, 8th grade, Iroquois Middle School

As usual, the contests were extremely challenging and excellent learning experiences. Many of the students who did not qualify for AIME or for young student recognition came very close to doing so.

In past years, the lists of the New York State high scoring students have included many Albany Area Math Circle students, both overall and within grade levels, and this is likely to be the case again this year. Some especially noteworthy scores include those of our "school winners": AMC12A Matthew Babbitt, AMC10A Wyatt Smith, AMC12B Yipu Wang, AMC10B Matthew Babbitt, as well as the scores for Albany Area Math Circle's AMC12 "teams," Matthew, Andrew, and Jay on the A date, Yipu, Andrew, and David on the B date. A number of our members also scored high on tests taken at their schools.

Congratulations to all the students who participated in this very challenging contest, no matter what your score and whether you took it with us or at your school. Whether you qualified for AIME or honors or not, the greatest value of such an experience is the stimulus it can provide to the development of your problem-solving skills.

We would like to congratulate especially the many student coaches who have encouraged and mentored younger students! I think all of them enjoyed the learning experience. The middle school students who took the contest in previous years demonstrated impressive growth in their problem-solving abilities and their general enthusiasm for mathematical challenges. Our student coaches have been doing a fantastic job of helping younger students develop mathematically.