“The Dominators” earn first perfect score in iTest history, win USA national title
(Nashville, TN) – The iTest, also known as the American High School Internet Mathematics Competition (“AHSIMC”), awarded its first perfect score of 101 to “The Dominators,” a team of students from five different high schools across the country. These five students worked together using instant messaging software and a “rapid barrage” of emails in winning the 2005 iTest and claiming the United States Mathematics National Championship.
Zhou Fan, the team’s captain, attends Parsippany Hills High School in Parsippany, New Jersey, while Alex Yang, Alice Tzeng, Yi Sun, and Daniel Litt attend West Windsor-Plainsboro High School (New Jersey), Lafayette High School (Louisiana), The Harker School (California), and Orange High School (Ohio), respectively.
The 2005 iTest took place from September 16 through September 20, and was free to all participating students and schools. Over 31,000 students from hundreds of schools nationwide participated in the second year of what educators call “a groundbreaking educational experience.” The winning team members will receive iPod Nanos and a package of iPod accessories, courtesy of Griffin Technology.
The 2005 runner-up was a team of students from Ames High School in Ames, Iowa. Joshua Moloney, Qi Gan, Kevin Lu, Xin Pan, and James Pringle took second place nationally with a score of 97. Teams from Vestavia Hills High School (Alabama) and Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology (Virginia) tied for third place with a score of 91.
The 2005 iTest Sponsor’s Award for Leadership was awarded to Leona Penner of Lincoln East High School in Lincoln, Nebraska, for her dedication to making her students as successful as possible. Natasha Doty, who captained her team to a third place finish in Nebraska and a top 100 finish nationally, remarks that “Ms. Penner has shown me that even though the answer may not be apparent, if I continue to work, my struggles will lead to success.”
The 2005 iTest Sponsor’s Award for Exceptional Teaching was awarded to Dr. Alan Vraspir of the Albuquerque Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for his incredible enthusiasm in the classroom. Dr. Vraspir, in solving a particularly tough mathematics problem for his students, “tends to jump up and down in excitement,” which gets his students fired up to learn more. “Dr. Vraspir led me into the real world of mathematics,” writes one of his students, “and he has shown me much more about math than I would have ever dreamt of.”
Winning the 2005 iTest iNvention Award, a side contest in which students proposed new accessories to build for the iPod Nano, was Garrett Goss of Georgia’s Marist School. He created a schematic for a device that would allow an iPod Nano to be inserted into a laptop’s PCMCIA slot, and in doing so, won an iPod Nano for his efforts.
Winning the 2005 iTest Art Award, which required students to design the 2006 iTest logo for use next year, was student Nash Spence of Montana’s Billings West High School, beating out over 30 other contestants to win an iPod Nano of his own.
The iTest is free to all participating students and schools, thanks to funding provided by iPod accessory manufacturer Griffin Technology. The national event was founded by Bradley Metrock, a Nashville resident and Vanderbilt University graduate.
“The iTest is the fastest growing high school academic event in the United States,” Metrock said. “Because the iTest is completely free to students, teachers, and their schools, every student at every school in America can now access the elite world of competitive mathematics.”
For more information on the iTest, please contact Bradley Metrock at Bradley@AHSIMC.com or 615-972-8833, or visit www.theitest.com.
