A total of 103 Michigan high school students, from 46 different schools, were honored for their achievement in the 48th Annual Michigan Mathematics Prize Competition at the Awards Day program held on Saturday, February 26 at Delta College. This was the final year of the three-year term of director David Redman (Delta C).
Richard Askey (U of Wisconsin) spoke on “Fibonacci Numbers”, and MMPC alumnus Michael Bolt (Calvin C) presented “The Geometry of Inversions”.
The first-place Gold Award winner and Ford Motor Company Scholar was John Zhou (Detroit Country Day). The second-place Gold Award went to Frederic Sala (Troy High School). The third-place Gold Award went to Jeffrey Madsen (Groves High School). Silver Award winners at the first level were: Vivek Behera (Detroit Country Day) and Maxwell Grazier-G’Sell (Saline High School); at the second level, Hannah Zhou (Troy High School), Dawson Zhou (Troy High School), and Andrew Cheng (Rochester High School); at the third-level, Peyton Shieh (Okemos High School) and Bohao Pan (Cranbrook Kingswood School). In addition 41 Bronze Awards were given, and 52 students received Honorable Mention.
The top 51 students received $33,100 in scholarships in amounts ranging from $500 to $2,600. Thanks go to the corporate and other donors to the MMPC scholarship fund. The Honorable Mention winners received copies of the AMS publication: Stories about Maxima and Minima, by V. M. Tikhomirov. We would like to thank the AMS and the Michigan Council of Teachers of Mathematics for their generous donations that covered a portion of the cost of these books.
Part I of the MMPC is a 40-question multiple choice test, which this year was administered on October 6. The top 1,065 participants from Part I were invited to take Part II on December 1. There were 985 Part II participants.
The official Web site of the MMPC (http://www.delta.edu/math/mmpc) contains all information about the competition, including scheduling, registration materials, and previous exams with solutions. Part I of the competition is given in the Fall of each year.
The Director Says “Thank You!”
You might know some of the people behind the scenes of the competition, but we would still like to bring them to your attention and formally thank them. We apologize in advance if we do not mention all of the significant contributions to the competition.
The examination committee works diligently behind the scenes preparing Part I and Part II: Eddie Cheng (chair, OU), John Clifford (UM-Dearborn), Patrick Pan (SVSU) and Akalu Tefera (GVSU). They patiently work with the Director and the reports of the various reviewers who in turn deserve a great deal of thanks, though they are too numerous to mention here. The examination committee also provides the Director with a valuable sounding board and advisory group.
The 67 volunteers from 23 institutions around the state who attended Grading Day did a wonderful job. They are listed on the MMPC Web site.
The MMPC supervisors at the participating schools are essential, collecting information and organizing participants, keeping timely and frequent contact with the Director. If you know a supervisor at a participating school, thank them, and if you have any contacts in your local high schools encourage them to consider participating if they do not already do so.
My colleagues at Delta College who tirelessly counted, stacked, sorted, collated, packed, addressed, loaded, unloaded, advised, innovated, proofread, graded, and regraded deserve a big “thank you!”, though they are too numerous to mention here. The office staff, led by Linda Nadolski, deserves many thanks for their logistical support. The administration of Delta College has also contributed much practical support.
Lastly I thank you for allowing me to serve these three years and I ask you to join me in welcoming and continuing to lend all of your practical support to the Director of the next three competitions: Eddie Cheng.
David Redman, Delta College
