Cherry Creek High School’s Austen Mazenko won top honors among 157 competitors in the 36th Soifer Mathematical Olympiad. He was recognized at the awards ceremony May 3 in Berger Hall.
Mazenko previously placed third at the 2016 and 2017 Olympiads. He was awarded the top prize by a panel of judges for his responses to five problems and his essay-style responses within a four-hour time limit.
Mazenko received an Olympiad Gold Medal, a $1,000 scholarship to attend any accredited American university of his choice, a $2,000 UCCS Chancellor’s Scholarship (to be awarded if attending UCCS as a new freshman), Springer Publisher book “The Mathematical Coloring Book: Mathematics of Coloring and the Colorful Life of Its Creators” by Alexander Soifer, Casio graphing calculator and the Wolfram Research software “Mathematica” download.
The Olympiad featured 157 students from 27 cities across Colorado for the competition April 26. A panel of judges selected the first, second, third and fourth prize winners, along with first and second honorable mentions.
Second prize was awarded to three students:
- Kyle Wang, sophomore, Fairview High School
- Quinn Perian, freshman, home school
- Rahul Thomas, sophomore, Cherry Creek High School.
Each of them will receive an Olympiad silver medal, a $250 scholarship to attend any accredited American university of his choice, a $2,000 UCCS Chancellor’s Scholarship (to be awarded if attending UCCS), Springer Publisher book “The Mathematical Coloring Book: Mathematics of Coloring and the Colorful Life of Its Creators” or “The Scholar and the State: In Search of Van der Waerden” by Alexander Soifer, Casio graphing calculator and the Wolfram Research software “Mathematica” download.
Third prize was awarded to Ellie Greyson, freshman, Cherry Creek High School. She will receive an Olympiad bronze medal, a $2,000 UCCS Chancellor’s Scholarship (to be awarded if attending UCCS as a new freshman); a Springer book, Alexander Soifer’s book “Geometric Etudes in Combinatorial Mathematics,” Casio graphing calculator and the Wolfram Research software “Mathematica” download.
Fourth prize was awarded to three students:
- Sarah Gao, senior, Cherry Creek High School
- Grace Zhang, sophomore, Grandview High School,
- Greg Thompson, freshman, Windsor Charter Academy.
Each of them will receive a Springer book, and Alexander Soifer’s books “Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The First 10 Years and Further Explorations” and “Geometric Etudes in Combinatorial Mathematics,” and the Wolfram Research software “Mathematica” download.
First honorable mentions were awarded to the following 12 Olympians:
- Srinivas Arun, seventh grade, Campus Middle School
- Luke Brobin, sophomore, Cheyenne Mountain High School
- Brandon Dong, sophomore, Cherry Creek High School
- Nathan Jensen, freshman, Pine Creek High School
- Kyle Ma, junior, Pine Creek High School
- Jack Parkhouse, Kent Denver School
- Abbas Shaikh, freshman, Cherry Creek High School
- Matthew Stuckenbruck, eighth grade, Aurora Quest K-8
- Anthony Wang, freshman, Rocky Canyon High School.
- Ari Wang, eighth grade, Mountain Ridge Middle School
- Jack Younger, freshman, Mountain Ridge Middle School
- Emily Zhang, freshman, Cherry Creek High School.
Each of them will receive two books by Alexander Soifer “Mathematics as Problem Solving” and “How Does One Cut a Triangle?” and the Wolfram Research software “Mathematica” download.
Second Honorable Mentions were awarded to the following 23 Olympians:
- Kendall Albertsen, sixth grade, Windsor Charter Academy
- Hayden Barrett, eighth grade, Windsor Charter Academy
- James Berg, junior, Windsor Charter Academy
- Ethan Cranston, senior, Golden View Charter Academy
- Aashay Deshpande, seventh grade, Mountain Ridge Middle School
- Hiram Despain, freshman, Windsor Charter Academy
- Abigail Douglas, seventh grade, West Middle School
- Rohan Gohil, eighth grade, Mountain Ridge Middle School
- Hojin Han, freshman, Pine Creek High School
- Mirabai Herz, eighth grade, West Middle School
- Aiden Johnson, freshman, Windsor Charter Academy
- Ethan Johnson, seventh grade, Challenger Middle School
- Huarui Lai, sophomore, Cherry Creek High School
- Brian McHughs, sixth grade, Hill Campus of Arts and Sciences
- Caeden McNairy, freshman, Windsor Charter Academy
- Jacob Mitchell, seventh grade, Mountain Ridge Middle School
- Achyut Nambiar, eighth grade, Mountain Ridge Middle School
- Dasha Osovskaya, seventh grade, West Middle School
- Aahana Paul, sixth grade, Challenger Middle School
- David Stewart, sophomore, Windsor Charter Academy
- Max Xu, eighth grade, Rocky Heights Middle School
- Victor Yan, eighth grade, West Middle School
- Austin Zhang, sixth grade, Challenge School.
Each of them will receive a book “Mathematics as Problem Solving” by Alexander Soifer, and the Wolfram Research software “Mathematica” download.
Alexander Soifer, professor of interdepartmental studies, presented solutions to the Olympiad’s problems and his lectures “Four Etudes in Mathematical Coloring” and” Charge to the Olympians: A Tale of Big Man and Little Bird.”
Support for the prize funding and the operation for the Olympiad was provided by Colorado Springs School District 11, Air Academy School District 20, Springer Publisher, Mu Alpha Theta Mathematics Honor Society, Greg and Mary Hoffman, Robert and June Ewell, UCCS Chancellor, UCCS Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, UCCS Dining and Hospitality Services, UCCS Bookstore, UCCS Parking and Transportation Services, Colorado Governor’s Office, U.S. Senator Cory Gardner, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and Alexander Soifer.
In the 36 years of the Soifer Mathematical Olympiad, some 20,000 students have participated during 1984-2019. They have written approximately 97,000 essays and were awarded more $433,000 in prizes. The Olympiad is a unique joint effort of school districts, schools, industry, University of Colorado, and city, state and federal governments.
The 37th Soifer Mathematical Olympiad will be April 24, 2020. The awards presentation will take place May 1, 2020.
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