[cmath] SUN LIFE FINANCIAL CANADIAN OPEN MATHEMATICS CHALLENGE CHAMPIONS

[Graham Wright]

For release: January 31, 2008

SUN LIFE FINANCIAL CANADIAN OPEN MATHEMATICS CHALLENGE CHAMPIONS

OTTAWA, Ontario - Seven students earn top honours and 16 students 
named provincial winners in the 2007 Sun Life Financial Canadian Open 
Mathematics Challenge (COMC).  The COMC is organized and administered 
by the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) in collaboration with the 
Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (University of 
Waterloo).  Over 7300 students from all across Canada wrote the 
twelfth Open on November 21, 2007.  Students had to solve 12 questions 
during the two and one-half hour time limit.

"On behalf of Sun Life Financial, I extend my congratulations to the 
Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge champions," said Dean Connor, 
President, Sun Life Financial Canada.  "We are pleased to continue 
supporting the tradition of promoting excellence in mathematics - and 
future mathematicians - through our sponsorship of the CMS and this 
competition."

"The Sun Life Financial Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge is 
designed to provide an extra-curricular mathematics activity during 
the Fall term that is both accessible to a wide range of students and 
challenging to even the best students in the country," said Mr. Ian 
VanderBurgh, Director, CEMC (University of Waterloo), and Chair of the 
CMS COMC Committee.  "In addition, the Open acts as a qualifying paper 
for the 2008 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad which will be written on 
March 26, 2008."

The top seven contestants in the 2007 Open are:

Bo Cheng Cui, West Vancouver Secondary School, West Vancouver, BC; 
Dimitri Dziabenko, Don Mills Collegiate Institute, North York, ON; 
Tony Feng, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA; Neil Gurram, Indus Center 
for Academic Excellence (ICAE), Troy, MI; Junjiajia Long, Glebe 
Collegiate Institute, Ottawa, ON; Alexander Remorov, William Lyon 
Mackenzie Collegiate Institute, North York, ON; Jonathan Schneider, 
University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, ON.

For outstanding performance in the COMC, the 2007 Open Provincial 
Winners are:

Alberta - Danny Shi, Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary; 
British Columbia - Bo Cheng Cui, West Vancouver Secondary School, West 
Vancouver;  Manitoba - Chengcheng Gui, St. John's-Ravenscourt School, 
Winnipeg;  New Brunswick - Joe Kileel, Fredericton High School, 
Fredericton;  Newfoundland and Labrador - Mark Yang, Prince of Wales 
Collegiate Institute, St. John's;  Nova Scotia - Kevin Tsai, 
King's-Edgehill School, Windsor;  Ontario Central - Zhe Qu, Sir Allan 
MacNab Secondary School, Hamilton;  Ontario East - Junjiajia Long, 
Glebe Collegiate Institute, Ottawa;  Ontario Metro - Dimitri 
Dziabenko, Don Mills Collegiate Institute, North York; Jonathan 
Schneider, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto;  Ontario North - 
Yuhan Chen, Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate Vocational Institute, 
Thunder Bay;  Ontario West - Chen Sun, A.B. Lucas Secondary School, 
London;  Prince Edward Island - Eman Wong, Colonel Gray Senior High 
School, Charlottetown;  Québec - Nikita Lvov, Marianopolis College, 
Westmount; Saskatchewan - Weiliang Chen, Walter Murray Collegiate 
Institute, Saskatoon;  International Tony Feng, Phillips Academy, 
Andover, Massachusetts.

"All the winners have done extremely well on a very challenging 
competition and have demonstrated analytical and creative 
problem-solving skills that are so essential for a wide range of 
career options," said Dr. Neal Madras, York University and Chair of 
the CMS Mathematical Competitions Committee.

Approximately 75 of the top students from the 2007 Sun Life Financial 
Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge have been invited to write the 
2008 Canadian Mathematical Olympiad (CMO).  The CMO is Canada's 
premier mathematics competition organized and administered by the 
Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS).  "These top students will be busy 
honing their problem solving skills as they prepare for the 2008 CMO 
and try to be one of six students who will be chosen to represent 
Canada at the 2008 International Mathematical Olympiad in Madrid, 
Spain in July," said Dr. Graham Wright, CMS Executive Director. 
"These valuable enrichment activities are only possible because of the 
voluntary help received from many school, college and university 
teachers."

The 2007 Open results, questions and solutions are available at:
www.cms.math.ca/Competitions/COMC/

For more information, contact:
Dr. Graham P. Wright
Executive Director
Canadian Mathematical Society
(613) 562-5702
director at cms.math.ca

or

Mr. Ian VanderBurgh
Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567, ext 32358
chair-comcc at cms.math.ca