AMC Michigan Coordinator Report (2011 Fall)

During the 2010-2011 academic year, 7,264 Michigan students participated in the American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) -- 4,323 students from 55 schools in AMC8 and 2,941 students in AMC10/12.

Among the Michigan AMC winners for the 2010-2011 academic year, there are twelve perfect scorers for AMC 8, one perfect scorer for AMC 12B, one top scorer for each of the other three AMC high school competitions (AMC 10A, AMC 10B, and AMC 12A), and ten USAMO qualifiers. With an impressive performance, Alex Song (an 8th grader from Detroit Country Day School, Beverly Hills) got perfect scores for both AMC 8 and AMC 12B, also the sole winner of AMC 12A. The AMC 8 perfect scorers are: Mitchel Huang (a 6th grader from Teams Inc., Novi), Safal Bora (a 7th grader from Boulan Park Middle School, Troy), Dhruv Medarametla (a 7th grader from Boulan Park Middle School, Troy), Anil Palepu (a 7th grader from Novi Middle School, Novi), Justin Xu (a 7th grader from Boulan Park Middle School, Troy), Raghu Arghal (an 8th grader from Novi Middle School, Novi), Evan Bao (an 8th grader from Smith Middle School, Troy), Steven Cheng (an 8th grader from Boulan Park Middle School, Troy), Daniel Gershenson (an 8th grader from Houghton Middle/High School, Houghton), Michelle Liu (an 8th grader from Smith Middle School, Troy), Alex Song (an 8th grader from Detroit Country Day Middle School, Beverly Hills), and Andrew Xu (an 8th grader from Detroit Country Day Middle School, Beverly Hills). The top scorers for the four AMC high school competitions are: Zhibin Deng (a 10th grader from Rochester Adams High School, Rochester Hills), Hirsh Jain (a 10th grader from ICAE, Troy), and Alex Song (an 8th grader from Detroit Country Day School, Beverly Hills) for both AMC 12 competitions.

In 2010, 146 Michigan students qualified for the AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination). Among them, ten qualified for the USAMO (United States of America Mathematics Olympiad). The USAMO qualifiers are: Philip Bonneville (a 10th grader from Lightkeepers Homeschool, Shelby Township), Khetpakorn Chakarawet (a 12th grader from Cranbrook Kingswood School, Bloomfield Hills), Rolland He (a 11th grader from Troy High School, Troy), Mason Liang (a 12th grader from Troy High School, Troy), David Lu (a 11th grader from Detroit Country Day School, Beverly Hills), Raj Raina (a 9th grader from ICAE, Troy), Apurva Shrivastava (a 9th grader from ICAE, Troy), Alex Song (an 8th grader from Detroit Country Day School, Beverly Hills), Peter Su (a 11th grader from Plymouth Canton Educational Park, Canton), and Allen Yuan (a 12th grader from Detroit Country Day School, Beverly Hills. Among the Michigan AMC senior winners, Mason Liang is attending Yale University and Allen Yuan is attending Harvard University.

The Detroit Country Day School (Beverly Hills) team is the top AMC team winner of Region 4 (including Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio) this year. Other schools on the top five in the region are: ICAE (Indus Center for Academic Excellence, Troy), Troy High School (Troy), and Novi Senior High School (Novi).

Following our tradition of recognizing the achievements of the AMC winners, their teachers, and their parents, two celebrations were planned: the Awards Ceremony and the reception with the Governor. The Awards Ceremony was held on September 9th at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Oakland University, with Professor Jerrold Grossman (Oakland University) presenting a lecture on "What day of the week is it?". Professor Jerrold Grossman grew up in suburban Washington, DC, received a BS and MS in mathematics at Stanford University, and earned a PhD in mathematics at MIT. He joined the faculty of Oakland University in 1974, where he continues to teach a wide variety of courses in mathematics, statistics, and computer science. He has published about 40 articles in research journals, a majority in graph theory but also in algebraic topology, number theory, and other areas. He is also the author of an undergraduate textbook in discrete mathematics. For several years Professor Jerrold Grossman has been heavily involved in the AMC 10/12, serving on the committee that prepares the exam. In particular, he created several of the questions on the 2011 AMC 10 and AMC 12.

Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley was able to meet with the AMC winners for a photo reception when Governor Rick Snyder's schedule did not work out. The photo reception took place in the Senate Chamber in the Capitol Building on Monday, September 12. The Lieutenant Governor welcomed the students with certificates signed by the Governor and himself; told stories of the Capitol building and past governors of Michigan; took pictures with the students in the Senate Chamber; answered questions from teachers and parents; and led a tour of his Capital Building office.

These AMC celebration events are funded by the AMC, sponsored by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Oakland University, American Mathematical Society, Wolfram Research, and the Art of Problem Solving Foundation.

Please find the entire list of Michigan AMC winners in the AMC Awards booklet. This website will be moved to its permanent location at the Michigan Section MAA AMC Coordinator site soon.

Special thanks go to Dr. Gu (FangMing) of General Motors who has been our photographer for many years.