UNL awards $34K in scholarships to Nebraska students at Math Day event

            More than 1,400 students from 104 high schools across Nebraska participated in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's annual Math Day on Nov. 17. Participants put their mathematical skills to the test and competed for $34,000 in UNL scholarships.

            The event, held annually since 1990, is designed to spark high school students' interest in math, to expose them to UNL's mathematical sciences program, and to encourage them to pursue mathematics or mathematics-based science as a career.

            Peter Xu of Omaha's Millard North claimed the top individual prize -- an $8,000 scholarship. Winners in the team competition included Lincoln East in Class A, Elkhorn Mount Michael in Class B and Omaha Brownell-Talbot in Class C. Harvard and Sterling tied for top team honors in Class D.

            Opening ceremonies began at 8 a.m. in the Lied Center for Performing Arts with the welcome address by Amy Goodburn, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs.

            The day consisted of two individual mathematics competitions as well as a team contest and a team math bowl tournament. Students also had the opportunity to learn about UNL majors and departments and careers, and to participate in recreational mathematical activities. All students started with a multiple choice, preliminary exam called PROBE I (Problems Requiring Original and Brilliant Effort.) The top three females and males received awards. The top 50 students moved on to take an essay exam called PROBE II. John Meakin, chair of the Department of Mathematics, awarded a total of $34,000 in four-year scholarships to 10 students who performed the best on the essay exam.

            The scholarships are generously supported by the Dean H. and Floreen G. Eastman Memorial Fund for Mathematics, the Gallup Math Day Fund, the College of Engineering, and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.

            The team competition was determined by averaging the top scores from each school on PROBE I. The team math bowl tournament, which was double elimination, pitted three member teams against each other (up to two alternates per team allowed.) Both team competitions divided the field up by school size, with trophies given to the top two teams in each category. All the questions assumed students have taken two years of high school algebra, trigonometry and one year of geometry. The answers to PROBE II questions required the creativity and originality expected from only the very best students.

            The annual event continues to grow in popularity. This year's event attracted 1,421 participants, up nearly 150 from last year's total. Math Day 1990 hosted 562 students from 68 Nebraska high schools.

            Math Day 2011 summary results:

            PROBE II (scholarship competition; awards are four-year totals) -- 1. Peter Xu, Millard North, $8,000; 2, Michael Liou, Lincoln East, $4,000; 3, Wayne Osborn, Elkhorn, $4,000; 4, Ben Fenwick, Omaha Westside, $4,000; 5, Marika Svolos, Omaha Central, $4,000; 6, Pierce Dageforde, Millard South, $2,000; 7, Thomas Fryklind, Fremont Bergan, $2,000; 8, Ingrid Zhang, Lincoln East, $2,000; 9, tie, Joon Park, Elkhorn Mount Michael, Shashwat Sitesh, Millard North, and Michael Zhong, Omaha Brownell-Talbot, $2,000 each.

            Math Bowl Tournament (team members in parenthesis)

            Class A -- 1, Millard North (Tyler Chen, Mohit Jain, Shashwat Sitesh, Vaibhav Viswanathan, Peter Xu); 2, Omaha Westside (Brogan Bishop, Ben Fenwick, Mac Mikkelsen, Jake Poots).

            Class B -- 1, Elkhorn (Dudley Drew, Jesse Holmes, Wayne Osborn, Wyatt Osborn); 2, Omaha Duchesne (Tori Bracht, Zoe Cohen, Jackie Grode, Shelby Strattan, Pooja Varman).

            Class C -- 1, Omaha Brownell-Talbot (Caravaggio Caniglia, Andrew Chen, Britt Fossum, Linda Liu, Jonny Trinh); 2, Freeman (Adam Frerichs, Mitchell Hesseltine, Jake Krieger, Philipp Levine, Alex Richardson).

            Class D -- 1, Waco Nebraska Evangelical Lutheran (Monica Brandt, Ryan Henning, Thomas Rockhoff, Richard Song, Jacob Tuma); 2, Harvard (Paden Derr, Mikayla Novak, Austin Uden).

            PROBE I Team Competition (maximum possible team score is 100; first through fifth listed in each class)

            Class A -- 1, Lincoln East, 80.20; 2, Omaha Westside, 74.00; 3, Omaha Creighton Prep, 73.40; 4, Omaha Central, 71.80; 5, Millard North 70.60.

            Class B -- 1, Elkhorn Mount Michael, 77.00; 2, Elkhorn, 66.00; 3, Omaha Duchesne, 64.00; 4, Omaha Skutt, 61.50; 5, Norris, 61.25.

            Class C -- 1, Omaha Brownell-Talbot, 72.33; 2, Fremont Bergan, 62.33; 3, Yutan, 57.67; 4, Sutton, 57.33; 5, Freeman, 55.67.

            Class D -- 1, tie, Harvard and Sterling, 54.00; 3, Lincoln Parkview Christian, 53.33; 4, Waco Nebraska Evangelical Lutheran, 52.67; 5, Kenesaw, 49.00.

            PROBE I Top Three Students

            Females -- 1, tie, Katie Sedlar, Lincoln East, and Marika Svolos, Omaha Central; 3, tie, Ha Yoon Lee, Lincoln Southwest, and Ingrid Zhang, Lincoln East; 5, Anna Matthes, Lincoln East.

            Males -- 1, Thomas Fryklind, Fremont Bergan; 2, tie, Ben Fenwick, Omaha Westside, and Joon Park, Elkhorn Mount Michael; 4, Pierce Dageforde, Millard South.

Writer: Jean Jones, University Communications, 402-472-8320