Cherry Creek High School’s Austen Mazenko and Fairview High School’s Hongyi Chen won top honors among 186 competitors in the 35th Colorado Mathematical Olympiad. The winners were recognized during the awards ceremony May 4 in Berger Hall on the UCCS campus.
Mazenko, a sophomore, won his first Olympiad after a pair of third-place finishes in the last two years. Hongyi won his third Olympiad after a runner-up performance last year. Both winners received a $750 scholarship to any accredited school, a $2,000 scholarship to UCCS, a graphing calculator, a download for Wolfram Research software “Mathematica” and “Wolfram | Alpha Pro,” and six books by Alexander Soifer, professor, Interdepartmental Studies, and chair of the CMO: “The Scholar and the State: In Search of Van der Waerden,” “The Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The Third Decade and Further Explorations,” “How does One Cut a Triangle,” “Geometric Etudes in Combinatorial Mathematics,” “Mathematics as Problem Solving,” and “Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The First Ten Years and Further Explorations.”
The Olympiad featured 186 students from 28 cities across Colorado for the competition April 27. Students needed to solve five essay-style problems in four hours. A panel of judges selected the first, second and third prize winners, along with first and second honorable mentions.
The second prize went to Sarah Gao, a junior at Cherry Creek High School. She previously won the first prize as an eighth grader in 2015, the first victory for a female and the second for a middle school student. She received a $250 scholarship to any accredited school, a $2,000 scholarship to UCCS, a graphing calculator, a download for Wolfram Research software “Mathematica” and “Wolfram | Alpha Pro,” and five books by Soifer: “The Scholar and the State: In Search of Van der Waerden,” “How does One Cut a Triangle,” “Geometric Etudes in Combinatorial Mathematics,” “Mathematics as Problem Solving,” and “Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The First Ten Years and Further Explorations.”
Three students earned the third prize, which consisted of a $2,000 scholarship to UCCS, a graphing calculator, a download for Wolfram Research software “Mathematica,” a book from Springer Publishing, and four books by Soifer: “How does One Cut a Triangle,” “Geometric Etudes in Combinatorial Mathematics,” “Mathematics as Problem Solving,” and “Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The First Ten Years and Further Explorations.” The third prize winners were:
- David Jordan, sophomore, PCC Homeschool
- Anthony Wang, eighth grade, Cresthill Middle School
- Jackson Starkey, senior, Greeley West High School
The first honorable mention was presented to 23 students who received a download for Wolfram Research software “Mathematica” and four books by Soifer: “How does One Cut a Triangle,” “Geometric Etudes in Combinatorial Mathematics,” “Mathematics as Problem Solving,” and “Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The First Ten Years and Further Explorations.” The students were:
- Liam Adler-Pollock, freshman, George Washington High School
- James Berg, sophomore, Windsor Charter Academy
- Luke Brobin, freshman, Cheyenne Mountain High School
- Matt Chen, junior, Rock Canyon High School
- Sonia Chu, junior, Rock Canyon High School
- Brandon Dong, freshman, Cherry Creek High School
- Anudeep Golla, sophomore, Fairview High School
- Eleanor Greyson, eighth grade, West Middle School
- Siddarth Ijju, sophomore, Cherry Creek High School
- Nathan Jensen, eighth grade, Academy 20
- Aiden Lee, eighth grade, Campus Middle School
- Kyle Ma, sophomore, Pine Creek High School
- Quinn Perian, eighth grade, Summit Middle Charter School
- Daniel Rui, sophomore, Peak to Peak Charter School
- Abba Shaikh, eighth grade, West Middle School
- Rahul Thomas, freshman, Cherry Creek High School
- Gregory Thompson, eighth grade, Windsor Charter Academy
- Atharva Vispute, freshman, Rampart High School
- Hannah Wang, eighth grade, Hulstrom K-8
- Kyle Wang, freshman, Fairview High School
- Nathan Watt, freshman, Windsor Charter Academy
- Max Xu, seventh grade, Rocky Heights
- Grace Zhang, freshman, Grandview High School
Sixty students earned second honorable mention recognition who received a download for Wolfram Research software “Mathematica” and two books by Soifer: “Mathematics as Problem Solving” and “Colorado Mathematical Olympiad: The First Ten Years and Further Explorations.” The students were:
- Srinivas Arun, sixth grade, Campus Middle School
- Hayden Barrett, seventh grade, Windsor Charter Academy
- Alexa Barron, eighth grade, West Middle School
- Marco Batrez, junior, Valley High School
- Sahil Bhaskaran, freshman, Windsor Charter Academy
- Owen Biehm, seventh grade, University School
- Jack Brett, junior, Palmer High School
- Noah Caskey, seventh grade, West Middle School
- Snigdha Chandana, seventh grade, American Academy Castle Pines
- Zion Choi, eighth grade, Challenge School
- Caleb Chung, seventh grade, Challenger Middle School
- Brendon Cody, eighth grade, Windsor Charter Academy
- Mya Cordova, senior, Valley High School
- Austin Crawford, freshman, Coronado High School
- Aashay Deshpande, sixth grade, Mountain Ridge Middle School
- Hiram Despain, eighth grade, Windsor Charter Academy
- Abigail Douglas, sixth grade, West Middle School
- Du Duong, sophomore, Pius X High School
- Carson Echeverria, sixth grade, Mountain Ridge Middle School
- Dylaney Frantz, sophomore, Windsor Charter Academy
- Kayla Garza, junior, Valley High School
- Kristina Glushchenko, sixth grade, Mountain Ridge Middle School
- Katie Gorsline, senior, Greeley West High School
- Arnav Goyal, seventh grade, Falcon Creek Middle School
- Mirabai Herz, seventh grade, West Middle School
- Aiden Johnson, eighth grade, Windsor Charter Academy
- David “Bear” Kent, fourth grade, Foothills Elementary School
- Isaac Kness, seventh grade, Winograd K-8
- Devon McClure, eighth grade, Holmes Middle School
- Caeden McNairy, eighth grade, Windsor Charter Academy
- Zander Miller, junior, Valley High School
- Jacob Mitchell, sixth grade, Mountain Ridge Middle School
- Lucas Nafe, eighth grade, West Middle School
- Asher Neece, freshman, Windsor Charter Academy
- Caleb Noel, senior, home school
- Ethan Ormes, sixth grade, West Middle School
- Dasha Osovskaya, sixth grade, West Middle School
- Masha Osovskaya, eighth grade, West Middle School
- Savannah Owens, junior, Valley High School
- Diya Pingali, seventh grade, West Middle School
- Leslie Pitts, sophomore, Valley High School
- Quinn Ruddy, junior, Doherty High School
- Devon Rutledge, freshman, East High School
- Molly Rymes, sophomore, Valley High School
- Alexander Sasse, freshman, Valley High School
- Adam Schaubroeck, seventh grade, Sabin Middle School
- Akber Shaikh, freshman, Cherry Creek High School
- Titus Sharman, junior, Coronado High School
- Paul Soeda, junior, Windsor Charter Academy
- Carson Swoveland, sophomore, Palmer Ridge High School
- David Stewart, freshman, Windsor Charter Academy
- Maya Vendhan, seventh grade, Douglas County RE-1
- Victor Yan, seventh grade, West Middle School
- Kevin Yang, sophomore, Fairview High School
- Jack Younger, eighth grade, Colorado Academy
- Spencer Walsh, eighth grade, West Middle School
- Ari Wang, seventh grade, Mountain Ridge Middle School
- Andrew Wang, eighth grade, Cresthill Middle School
- Quinton T. Williams, eighth grade, Challenger Middle School
- Emily Woyte, eighth grade, Mountain Ridge Middle School
The award winners were joined for the presentation by:
- Kyle Hybl, regent, University of Colorado
- Venkat Reddy, chancellor, UCCS
- Tom Christensen, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, UCCS
- Richard Skorman, president, Colorado Springs City Council
- Andy Merritt, state director, U.S. Senator Cory Gardner
- Clark Maxon, director of curriculum and instruction, Academy School District 20
- Greg Hoffman, director of human resources, Intermap Technologies
- Kevin C. Mitchell, executive director, Empowerment Solidarity Network
- Alexander Soifer, chairman and founder, Colorado Mathematical Olympiad
Professor Soifer presented a review of the solutions during the award ceremony and delivered his lectures “My Favorite Open Problem of Mathematics: The Chromatic Number of the Plane” and “Charge to the Olympians: Yes, You Can!”
Support for the Olympiad was provided by Colorado Springs School District 11, Academy School District 20, Springer Publisher, Mu Alpha Theta Mathematics Honor Society, Greg and Mary Hoffman, Robert and June Ewell, UCCS Chancellor, UCCS Provost, UCCS Dining and Hospitality Services, UCCS Bookstore, UCCS Parking and Transportation Services, U.S. Senator Cory Gardner, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and Alexander Soifer.
In the 35 years of the Colorado Mathematical Olympiad, approximately 20,000 students have participated. They have written more than 96,000 essays, and were awarded over $409,000 in prizes. The Olympiad is a unique joint effort of school districts, schools, industry, University of Colorado, and city, state and federal governments.
The 36th Colorado Mathematical Olympiad will take place April 26, 2019. The award presentation will take place May 3, 2019.
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