FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2002
Two juniors in Madison Schools, Daniel Kane of West High School and Po-Ru Loh of Memorial High School, earned perfect scores in the USA Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO), a competition among 326 of the best mathematics students in the nation. Only five of these outstanding students earned perfect scores, with two of them attending Madison Schools.
During the first weekend in May, the 326 students (grades 7-12) spent nine hours on two successive afternoons solving six very challenging mathematical problems. According to the Olympiad, "the six problems are regarded as quite difficult, to the point that most professional mathematicians find them challenging." The students competing in the USAMO outscored more than 238,000 students nationwide on a series of challenging exams prior to May 3 and 4.
Daniel and Po-Ru along with 10 other USAMO winners will be honored in Washington, DC on June 23-24 at ceremonies sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America, the competition sponsor. They will also attend a rigorous summer mathematics training program in Lincoln, Nebraska from which six of the 12 will be selected to attend the International Mathematical Olympiad, July 19-30 in Glasgow, Scotland.
It's the second year in a row that Po-Ru Loh has finished in the top 12 and been named USAMO winner. In addition, Po-Ru is one of 16 students from around the nation invited to the USA Computing Olympiad training camp next month at UW-Parkside. This distinction is based on competition in computer programming and other criteria.
Last summer, Po-Ru earned the highest possible score, a 36, on the ACT assessment. He is the son of Theresa Loh and Wei-Yin Loh.
Daniel Kane is 1 of 24 high school students named to the 2002 US Physics Team. This distinction was earned through two rounds of testing against 1,100 highly qualified students. Starting next week, Daniel will attend an 8-day intense physics training camp in College Park, Maryland. From the 24 students at the camp, five will be selected for the International Physics Olympiad this summer in Indonesia. Daniel is the son of Janet Mertz and Jonathan Kane.
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Last Modified: 2002-05-24
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