[cmath] CANADA'S OLYMPIC "MATHLETES" TRAINING AT DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY

[Alan Kelm]

MEDIA RELEASE
Tuesday, June 27, 2006: Halifax, Nova Scotia

CANADA'S OLYMPIC "MATHLETES" TRAINING AT DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
Local students to work with Canada's brightest young math talents

Canada's best high school math students are training at Dalhousie 
University this week for the 47th International Mathematical Olympiad 
(IMO), held in Ljubljana, Slovenia from July 6 to July 18, 2006.

The team arrived at Dalhousie June 24 for a special IMO training camp and 
will be in Halifax until they depart for Slovenia on July 2. Five Maritime 
high school students, three from the Halifax area and two from 
Fredericton, are training with the "mathletes" as invited guests with the 
goal of developing their math skills.

The team was given an official sendoff today at Dalhousie's University 
Club. The six competitors were presented with their official uniforms and 
the local high school students were presented with gifts for their 
contribution. Speakers included: Donna Karsten, Nova Scotia Department of 
Education; Dr. Graham Wright, Executive Director, Canadian Mathematical 
Society; and Jonathan Borwein, Canada Research Chair in Collaborative 
Technology at Dalhousie University and Director of the Atlantic 
Association for Research in the Mathematical Sciences.

"These are exceptional students who will be competing against the very 
best problem-solvers at the international level," said Dr. Wright. "They 
have shown excellence in problem-solving and creativity and represent the 
great potential of our students across the country."

Team members were selected from among more than 200,000 students in grades 
7-12 who participated in local, provincial and national math contests. 
While in Ljubljana, they will pit their skills against over 500 of the 
world's best math students from more than 90 countries. At last year's IMO 
in Mérida, Mexico, the Canadian team placed 19th out of the 91 competing 
countries and took home five medals. Canada has won over 100 medals at the 
IMO since first fielding a team in 1981.

The 2006 team consists of Farzin Barekat, Sutherland Secondary School, 
North Vancouver (British Columbia); Viktoriya Krakovna, Vaughan Road 
Academy, Toronto (Ontario); Yang (Richard) Peng, Vaughan Road Academy, 
Toronto (Ontario); Dong Uk (David) Rhee, McNally High School, Edmonton 
(Alberta); Peng Shi, Sir John A. MacDonald Collegiate Institute, Agincourt 
(Ontario) and Yufei Zhao, Don Mills Collegiate Institute, Toronto 
(Ontario). The team is sponsored by the Canadian Mathematical Society; the 
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Dalhousie University; the Nova 
Scotia Department of Education; Imperial Oil Foundation; Sun Life 
Financial; Centre de recherches mathématiques; the Fields Institute; the 
Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences; Maplesoft; MathResources 
Inc., among others.

The five Maritime students training with the team are: from Halifax - 
Kevin Conrad, Prince Andrew Junior High School; Linhe (Jack) Li, Queen 
Elizabeth High School; Ethan MacAulay, Halifax Grammar School; from 
Fredericton - Joseph Kileel and Wendy Nie, Fredericton High School.

For more information on the Canadian Mathematical Society, see 
www.cms.math.ca/

Media inquiries, contact:

Dr. Graham P. Wright, Executive Director, Canadian Mathematical Society, 
cell: 613-290-3046, ph: 613-562-5702, e-mail: director at cms.math.ca

Ryan McNutt, Public Relations Assistant, Dalhousie University, ph: 
494-6035, e-mail: ryan.mcnutt at dal.ca