MATH OLYMPIAD: Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Synge of Lexington first became interested in math competitions when she saw one advertised on ESPN. This weekend, she is representing the United States in the 2009 China Girls Mathematical Olympiad.
Synge, a Boston University Academy junior who has participated in math competitions for five years, is one of seven US high school girls competing in the event in the southern coastal city of Xiamen, in China’s Fujian Province.
Sponsored by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, the team includes Cynthia Day of San Jose, Calif., a sophomore at Lynbrook High School; Carolyn Kim of Tallahassee, Fla., who will attend Harvard University; Patricia Li of San Jose, Calif., who is entering the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Shiyu Li of Sunnyvale, Calif., a senior at Cupertino High School; Ramya Rangan of San Jose, Calif., a sophomore at the Harker School; and Shijie Joy Zheng of Shoreline, Wash., who is a junior at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.
The coaches are Zuming Feng of Phillips Exeter Academy and Jennifer Iglesias, a two-time team member.
The team spent three weeks preparing for the competition through the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in June. After the five-day Olympiad concludes today, Synge and Zheng will spend several days tutoring children in math and science.
“I’ve always enjoyed math competitions,’’ said Synge, who was an alternate on last year’s team. “You meet a lot of great people and have a lot of fun.’’ |
