Welcome to The Avid Learner, an online newsletter of Avid Academy for Gifted Youth.

Table of Contents

1. Avid Academy Excellence in Mathematics Award Ceremony
2. Free Public Seminar in Irvine on Thursday, June 7 - Pathway to College: Academic, Social & Emotional Adjustment of Gifted Students
3. 2007 Orange County Math Olympiad Summer Camp
4. 2007 U.S. Mathematical Olympiad Team Announced
5. 2007 U.S. Physics Team Announced
6. California Math Whiz Won the 2007 National Spelling Bee
7. Southern California Teams Among Top Winners at the 2007 ARML
8. CTY Award Ceremony
9. Trends in High Education
10. Mathematics in Movies

1. Avid Academy Excellence in Mathematics Award Ceremony to be Held on June 7, 2007

Avid Academy will hold its annual Excellence in Mathematics Award Ceremony on Thursday, June 7, 2007.  The awards will be given to students who had participated and achieved state and national honors in the following math competitions hosted by Avid Academy:

• AMC 8, AMC 10, AMC 12, and AIME
• California Math League Grade 4 - 8
• Mathematics Olympiad Division-E and Division-M

As a part of the award ceremony, Avid Academy will also offer a free public seminar by Dr. Michelle Muratori.

2. Free Public Seminar in Gifted Education

3. 2007 Orange County Math Olympiad Summer Camp

The registration deadline for 2007 Orange County Math Olympiad Summer Camp has been extended to June 15 as a part of our sponsorship for 2007 Orange County Mathematics Field Day.  Please send in the registration asap to secure a spot for your student.  For more information about the summer camp, please visit our website at www.AvidAcademy.com.

Congratulations to Tedrick Leung of North Hollywood High School, CA, who was selected as one of the six students of the 2007 USA Mathematical Olympiad Team.  Tedrick will represent United States to compete in 2007 International Mathematical Olympiad in Vietnam. 

The 2007 US Math Olympiad Team include the following members:

• Sherry Gong, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH, 12th Grade
• Eric Larson, South Eugene HS, Eugene, OR, 10th Grade
• Brian Lawrence, Montgomery Blair HS, Silver Spring, MD, 12th Grade
• Tedrick Leung, North Hollywood HS, North Hollywood, CA, 12th Grade
• Arnav Tripathy, East Chapel Hill HS, Chapel Hill, NC, 12th Grade
• Alex Zhai, University Laboratory HS, Urbana, IL, 11th Grade

For more information, please visit 2007 International Mathematical Olympiad United States Team.

The American Association of Physics Teachers announced the 20 students who made the 2007 United States Physics Team.  The students participated in a two-week intensive study on the campus of University of Maryland.  The top five students will represent the United States to compete in the 2007 International Physics Olympiad in Iran.  Andy Lucas of Harvard-Westlake School, North Hollyword, made the team.  The profiles of all winners can be found at 2007 U.S. Physics Team.

Evan O'Dorney, a home-schooled eighth-grader from California won the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee Contest.  Evan’s winning word is "serrefine".  As a champion, Evan was awarded $35,000 cash plus a $5,000 scholarship among other prizes.

2007 American Regions Math League (ARML) competitions were held on June 1 and 2 at University of Las Vegas, Penn State University, and Ohio State University.  More than 200 teams nationally participated in the competitions.  Each team consists of 15 students, who represent the ALL-STARS math students from a designated region.  Five Southern California teams (three teams from Long Beach Math Circle and two teams from San Diego Math Circle) participated in the competition at the University of Las Vegas site.  Three Avid students were selected to represent Southern California on ARML teams coached by Dr. Kent Merryfield of Cal State Long Beach and Affiliated Long Beach Math Circle.  Avid Academy is one of the sponsors of the Southern California ARML teams.

In Division B competition, San Diego A team from San Diego Math Circle placed 4th place and Southern California B team from Long Beach Math Circle placed 5th place nationally.  Each team member won a math book and a free copy of the Mathematica Software from Wolfram Research.  Both teams will advance to the Division A competition next year.

Four students from Southern California teams advanced to the countdown round:

• Jay Whang, Troy High School, 9th Grade
• Tedrick Leung, North Hollywood High School, 12th Grade
• Jeff Manning, Home School, 11th Grade
• Jung Hun Koh, South Pasadena Middle School, 8th Grade

CTY (Center for Talented Youth) pioneered the approach to identify gifted students using above-grade standardized tests such as SAT I and ACT.  Top students are invited to attend the CTY Awards Ceremonies.  The Southern California Region Award Ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 16^th, 2007 locally.  The National Grand Ceremony will take place at Johns Hopkins University on Sunday, June 10^th, 2007.  The Award Ceremony Eligibility Chart can be found on the CTY Website.  This year, three Avid students were invited to the CTY Grand Ceremony:

• Edward Dinh of Rancho San Joaquin Middle School, Irvine
• Alex Pusey of St. Margaret's Episcopal School, San Juan Capistrano
• Jonathan Li of St. Margaret's Episcopal School, San Juan Capistrano

The number of students graduate from high school will continue to increase over the next decade.  Next year, about 200,000 more students will graduate from high school.  Consequently, college admissions will be more and more competitive over the same period.  The High Education Landscape page at College Board website lists many interesting demographic statistics in high school graduates, college admissions, college costs, and financial aids information.

Summer time is almost here.  It is a great opportunity to watch some math related movies.  Professor Oliver Knill of Harvard University maintains an interesting Mathematics in Movies website where you can find movie clips of math topics.  A more extensive list can be found on The Math In the Movies Page.  Enjoy!