Carmel Wins Fourth Straight Rose-Hulman High School Math Title

NEWS: On Campus

November 14, 2012


	Senior Problem Solvers: High school seniors concentrate on solving the 20 challenging problems in this year's Rose-Hulman Math* Competition. Four seniors earned perfect 100-point scores this year.*

High-school scholars from Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio showcased their problem-solving skills to capture top individual, grade, and school honors in this year's Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology High School Mathematics Competition, conducted on November 10.

Now in its 47th year, Rose-Hulman's competition has become one of the Midwest's largest academic contests, attracting 420 students from 26 schools. Past individual award winners have featured students recognized as Indiana's "Mr./Miss Math" and "Mr./Miss Science," members of the USA Today All-USA High School Academic Team, and members of the U.S. team in the International Mathematics Olympiad.

Students had one hour to complete 20 questions covering a wide range of mathematics categories. The contest is unique because it tests the skills of students in all four grade levels. Individual and team honors were presented to freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

Carmel High School of Carmel, Indiana won the overall school title for the fourth consecutive year. The school outscored rivals Fishers High School of Fishers, Indiana; Terre Haute South of Terre Haute, Indiana; Castle High School of Paradise, Indiana; and Evansville's Signature School.

Seven students had perfect 100-point scores this year: Trevor Clinkenbeard and Ben Sheff of Iowa City West High School, Alex Barksdale of Terre Haute South, and Madeline Snipes of Fishers in the senior division; Chanmin Kim of Illinois' Champaign Central High School and David Liang of Carmel among juniors; and freshman Amanda Li of Park Tudor School of Indianapolis.

Here is a breakdown of this year's class division competitions:

Seniors - Fishers was the class team champion, with Snipes, Usama Kamran (second), Nathaniel Smith (second), and Victor Gonsalves (third). Iowa City West was second, led by Clinkenbeard and Sheff, along with Ji-Eun Choi (eighth) and Asya Bergal (10th). Carmel was third with Vaibhav Vavilala (third), Willie Zhu (third), and Jerry Xu (seventh). Tying for second were Shaan Erickson of Signature School, Alek Jansen of Warsaw, Andy Mayo of Indianapolis' Lutheran School, and Catherine Mytelka of Park Tudor.

Juniors - Carmel was tops in this grade division with top finishes by Liang, Yushi Homma (second), Claudia Huang (fourth), and Eric Langowski (eighth). Fishers was second, led by Joshua Woodward (sixth), while Terre Haute South was third, with Ryan Chung (fourth) and Krishan Kumar (sixth). Other top students were Boyu He of Illinois' Urbana High School (third) and Jingyi Zhao of Culver Academies (fourth).


Overall Champions: Capturing first-place finishes in three of the four grade divisions, Carmel High School won this year's Rose-Hulman Math Competition for the fourth straight year.

Sophomores -- Carmel was the division team champion with members Kevin Fei, Kevin Mi, and Alex Yu all tying for first, while Cynthia Wu was fifth. Park Tudor was second, led by first-place efforts by Nathan Mytelka and Julia Wang, along with Laurel Fink (third). Terre Haute South was third, with Ben Brubaker tying for third. Carmel alternate Chrishan Fernando tied for first and Joshua Segaran was fourth. Other top finishers were George Theodorakis of Fishers (second), Harry Manaligod of Iowa City West (fourth), Thomas Ritz of Fishers (fourth), and Jiaying Wang of Culver Academies (fourth).

Freshmen -- Carmel was the team champion with members Miles Dai (third), Simon Langowski (fourth), Ryan Juo, and Areya Loupta. Terre Haute South was second, led by Tingyue Cui (fifth), and Fishers was third, with Vance and Gabriel Paree-Huff (sixth). Other top grade group finishers were Kai Trepka of Iowa City West (fifth) and Ruofan Zhou of Culver Academies (sixth).

Special book prizes were presented to the top male and female finishers among sophomores and freshmen. Receiving copies of "The Art and Craft of Problem Solving" were Fei, Fernando, Mi, and Yu of Carmel, along with Nathan Mytelka and Wang of Park Tudor. The awards were presented in memory of Mary Rhein, a teacher who coordinated the contest in West Chester, Ohio, for several years. "An Episodic History of Mathematics" was awarded to Li and Vance in memory of Sally Shonk, a former Vigo County (Indiana) teacher.

Other Indiana schools competing this year were Gary Roosevelt, Lafayette Harrison, Milan, Muncie Central, Pendleton, South Bend St. Joseph's, South Vermillion of Clinton, Terre Haute North, and West Vigo of West Terre Haute.

The competition was organized by mathematics professors John Rickert, Leanne Holder, and Joseph Eichholz, with assistance from department secretary Michelle Prather, and department chair Allen Broughton. Faculty members assisting were Bill Butske, Sylvia Carlisle, Dave Goulet, Elton Graves, William Green, Ralph Grimaldi, Diane Evans, Vincenzo Isaia, John McSweeney, Eric Reyes, and Christina Selby. Providing helping hands were members of the Pi Mu Epsilon mathematics honor society, Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, Math Club, and other student volunteers.

Information about this year's contest and results of past events can be obtained online.