Albert Soh of Boulder Wins in the XXIX Colorado Mathematical Olympiad

First prize was awarded by the judges to Albert Soh, a sophomore from Fairview High School of Boulder, Colorado. He will receive a Gold Medal of the Olympiad, a $1,000 Scholarship to be used at any certified American university or four-year college, a $1000 UCCS Chancellor's Scholarship, high end Casio Graphing Calculator; The Mathematical Coloring Book: Mathematics of Coloring and the Colorful Life of Its Creators by Alexander Soifer or A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram; and Wolfram Mathematica for Students 8.0 software Download. Albert was also awarded Creativity Award for discovering the only solution of problem 3B. This award includes a 4-day 3-night stay right on the Atlantic Ocean in the sunny Florida, and was sponsored by Mr. Julian Felder, General Manager of Wyndham Deerfield Beach Resort Hotel. Last year, Albert won second prize of the Olympiad.

Second prize was awarded to Artem Bolshakov, a junior from Ridgeview Classical Schools of Fort Collins. He will receive a silver medal of the Olympiad, a $500 Scholarship to be used at any certified American university or four-year college, a $1000 UCCS Chancellor's Scholarship, Casio Prizm fx-CG 10 Color Graphing Calculator; The Mathematical Coloring Book: Mathematics of Coloring and the Colorful Life of Its Creators by Alexander Soifer or A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram; and Wolfram Mathematica for Students 8.0 software.
Last year, Artem was a winner of the fourth prize.

Third prize was awarded to Jesse Zhang, a freshman from Fairview High School in Boulder. Each will each receive a bronze medal of the Olympiad, a $1000 UCCS Chancellor's Scholarship; Casio Prizm fx-CG 10 Color Graphing Calculator; The Mathematical Coloring Book: Mathematics of Coloring and the Colorful Life of Its Creators by Alexander Soifer or A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram; and Wolfram Mathematica for Students 8.0 software.

Forth prize was awarded to four Olympipans: Henry Zhang and Kyle Christensen, both juniors from Fairview High School of Boulder, CO; Shawn Ong, a sophomore from Douglas County High School, Castle Rock, CO; and Yue Niu, a sophomore from Rampart High School, Colorado Springs, CO. They will receive a Casio Prizm fx-CG 10 Calculator, a Wolfram Mathematica for Students 8.0 Download, and the new 2011 book covering the first 20 years of the Olympiad: Colorado Mathematical Olympiad and Further Explorations: From the Mountains of Colorado to the Peaks of Mathematics by Alexander Soifer.

First Honorable Mentions were awarded to the following eighteen contestants: Li Qian Peng, 9, Rampart High School; Gunnar Hogland, 12, Doherty High School; George Younger, 8, Colorado Academy; Angela Song, 8, Mountain Ridge Middle School; Nina Vendhan, 8, Cresthill Middle School; Annie Lin, 11, Rampart High School; Yizhe Xiong, 6, Aurora Quest K-8; Rachel Phillips, 11, Widefield High School; William Scoggins, 11, Rangely High School; Andrew Morton, 10, Rangely High School; Morgan Petersen, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Steven Hanenberg, 12, Doherty High School; Nicholas Lin, 6, Mountain Ridge Middle School; Christine Soh, 8, Summit Middle School; Koby Chan, 8, Lewis-Palmer Middle School; Brian Healy, 12, Coronado High School; Jacob Carson, 10, Coronado High School; and Sara Del Valle, 9, Coronado High School.

Our guests, Souparna Purohit, 10, from Math and Science Academy, Sugarland, Texas; Alexei Pillen, 11, from Murphy High School, Mobile, Alabama; Nolan Ryan Chu, 12, from Davidson High school, Mobile, Alabama; and Eric Wu, 10, Alabama School of Mathematics and Science, Mobile, Alabama; were also awarded First Honorable Mention.

They will each receive the a Casio scientific calculator, the book How Does One Cut a Triangle? by Alexander Soifer, and a Wolfram Mathematica 8.0 software for Students Download.

Second Honorable Mentions were awarded to the following thirty-two contestants: Eric Frank, 8, Edison Middle School; Alexis Wall, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Emily Kim, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Jason Mackay, 10, Edison High School; Casey Kaza, 11, Edison High School; Nahome Tesfay, 7, Aurora Quest K-8; Colton Sorbie, 7, Aurora Quest K-8; Gwen Hildebbrand, 7, Aurora Quest K-8; Evelyn Rodriguez,7, Aurora Quest K-8; Justin Ripley, 6, North Star Academy; Justin Stenman, 6, North Star Academy; Andres Hernan, 6, North Star Academy; Whitaker Hover, 6, North Star Academy; Tommy Gaessler, 6, North Star Academy; Pranit Nanda, 6, Aurora Quest K-8; Rachel Smith, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Kera Davis-Manchette, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Emma Johnson, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Keerti Vajrala, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Hyun Chang, 7, Aurora Quest K-8; Yonas Bayu, 7, Aurora Quest K-8; Tess Collins, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Suzanne Warrulr, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Rachel Vincent, 7, Aurora Quest K-8; Landry Richards, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Jessica Newell-Gardner, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Mikayla Barna, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Chelsea Ficken, 10, Rangely High School; Alyssa Morris, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Dominick Dunn, 8, Aurora Quest K-8; Julia Kim, 8, Aurora Hills Middle School; and Miguel Carbajal, 8, Aurora Hills Middle School.

They will each receive a Wolfram Mathematica for Students 8.0 Download, and the book Mathematics as Problem Solving by Alexander Soifer.

Those who wish to understand the spirit of the Olympiad are invited to solve some of the Olympiad's five problems. Here, for example, is a problem

THIS YEAR'S PRIZE FUND OF THE OLYMPIAD has been generously donated by Casio, Inc.; Wolfram Research; Julian Felder, General Manager Wyndham Deerfield Beach Resort; Air Academy Dist. 20; Colorado Springs School Dist. 11; Fairview High School; Rangely Schools; Robert and June Ewell; UCCS Chancellor, Provost, Vice Chancellor for Student Success, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance, College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, Bookstore; and Alexander Soifer.

THE AWARD PRESENTATION PROGRAM featured a lecture Birth of a Problem: The Story of Creation in Seven Stages, and Review of Solutions of the 29th Colorado Mathematical Olympiad Problems by Alexander Soifer.
The following guests of honor, hosts and sponsors addressed the winners and presented the awards:  Chancellor Pamela Shockley-Zalabak, UCCS; Greg Hoffman, Personnel Manager, Intermap Technologies, Inc.; Todd Morse, Executive Director Learning Services, Dist. 20; Dave Sawtelle, K-12 Math Facilitator, School Dist. 11; Tom Christensen, Dean, College of LAS, UCCS; Alexander Soifer, Chair & Founder, Colorado Math Olympiad.

In the 29 years of Colorado Mathematical Olympiad, over 17,000 students have participated during 1984-2011. They have written over 87,000 essays, and were awarded about $295,000 in prizes. The Olympiad is a unique joint effort of school districts, schools, institutions of higher education, business community and local and State governments.