Meet the 2012 National Contestants
Below are the contestants who qualified for the 2012 national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician contest, which took place Friday, January 6 at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Boston.
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Stephen Lamontagne
Senior at Barrington High School (RI)
Semifinalist in the 2011 national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician
Can't wait until he goes to college
Hear Stephen talk with Mike and read an article about Stephen and the competition that ran in the Barrington Patch. The Providence Journal also covered Stephen's participation in the contest, but no link exists (as far as we can tell; let us know at paoffice at ams dot org if you find the article)
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Alex McDonough
Senior at Winchester High School (MA)
Loves strategic board games
If he finishes first or second, he'll rent a limo for the school's math team for the New England Math Meet
Hear Alex talk with Mike
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Raj Raina
Sophomore at Novi High School (MI) and a regular student at the ICAE (Indus Center for Academic Excellence), a year-round math enrichment program
If he won first prize, he would visit Egypt with his family
Likes going on bus trips to participate in extracurricular activities.
Hear Raj talk with Mike, see a news story on him that aired on WJBK-TV in Detroit, and read more about Raj in an article published in The Detroit News.
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Allan Sadun
Junior at Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School (TX)
Built his own musical instrument using a plasma cutter to make steel tuning forks
Loves the spring academic competition season
Hear Allan talk with Mike
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Eric Schneider
Junior at High Technology High School (NJ)
Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up in one day
On the first-place team in the American Regions Mathematics League three years in a row
Hear Eric talk with Mike
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Rachit Singh
Sophomore at Pullman High School Central (WA)
Grand Prize winner in the Avista Video Challenge
Loves to draw, when he can find the time
Hear Rachit talk with Mike. An article about Rachit also appeared in the Idaho Statesman but the online link appears to have expired (let us know at paoffice at ams dot org if you can get to it).
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Richard Spence
Senior at the Sonoran Science Academy (AZ)
Won first place (Division 2) in 2011 National Scrabble Championship
Semifinalist in the 2011 national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician
Hear Richard talk with Mike
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The contestants were selected based on scores on the national qualifying test and will compete for up to US$10,000 (total) for themselves and their school's math department.
In addition to the cash prizes in the competition, there are also prizes donated by: Texas Instruments, Maplesoft Inc., John Wiley & Sons, and the AMS. The game is a program of the AMS Public Awareness Office and was developed by Mike Breen (AMS Public Awareness Officer) and Bill Butterworth (DePaul University). Read about--and see video from--the 2011 contest, won by Evan O'Dorney.
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