Three Exonians, Ray Li, class of ‘13, upper Alex Song, and new lower Kevin Sun, took the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) by storm, earning individual silver, gold, and bronze medals, respectively, at this year’s 54th annual competition.The International Mathematical Olympiad is the epitome of all high school mathematics competitions. Over the course of two days, participants work on extremely difficult problems that test their knowledge of four fundamental parts of mathematics: algebra, geometry, number theory and combinatorics. Each day three problems are given to the students to work on for four and a half hours.Li, Song and Sun traveled to Santa Marta, Colombia this summer to compete in the IMO from July 18-28. With an international location, the students were not only able to put their skills to the test, but were also given the opportunity to explore Colombia and experience the different culture.“We resided in the Hotel Irotama right by the northern shore of Colombia,” Song said. “There were many activities set up there such as volleyball and ping-pong, and we also got to swim in both the large outdoor hotel pool and in the ocean itself during our free time. We were also given a tour of the city, where we could see visible differences in culture, the most striking of which was the elevated sidewalk in case of minor flooding.”
Li added that the ability to compete in Colombia provided an opportunity to connect with students from various locations. “I had never competed internationally before, and getting to meet contestants from other countries was really exciting,” he said.Before arriving in Colombia, the three students engaged in crucial preparation that began four months prior to the competition. “At Exeter, I was blessed with the guidance of math teacher Mr. Zuming Feng, who gave me plenty of problems emulating those on the IMO for me to solve,” Song said. In addition to his work at Exeter, Song attended two summer camps, one at the University of Lincoln-Nebraska and the other at the Banff International Research Station in Canada.Feng mentioned the type of training that the students were involved in at Exeter. "We try to find the balance of working on known problems, reading new published works, while keeping our creativity,” Feng said.Upon arrival in Santa Marta, the students prepared for the IMO with their respective teams. Ninety-seven different countries from five different continents participated in this year’s annual competition.Song, representing Team Canada, received his third gold medal this year, earning 35 out of 42 possible points in the contest. Feng added that Song may have the chance to hold the title of having 5 gold medals--a feat that no one has achieved before. “Alex got his third gold medal, on track of being the first ever 5-time gold medalist in the world,” Feng said. “He should be happy.”Li earned a position on Team U.S.A. after attending the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP). He was selected from a pool of 18 top scorers attempting to qualify for the team. MOSP is a three-week, invitation-only training camp for the IMO. In his first attempt at competing internationally, Li finished in the top 75 percentage of the competition, winning a silver medal and helping his team finish third overall.With a score of 17 out of 42 possible points, Sun earned himself a bronze medal and a 211th place overall at the competition. Sun gained much new knowledge from this valuable experience and hopes to achieve even better results in the future. Feng feels that he did a great job and “hopes he learns from it.”At the closing ceremony, the contestants were shown a recording of farewell from Colombia which was made by the president, Juan Manuel Santos. "It was the first time a figure of such importance greeted us, and although the recording rendered the talk impersonal, it was still a surprise for the contestants and perhaps a moment of awe for our Colombian guides," Song said.Feng is proud of the three students’ accomplishments, viewing them as “willing to go beyond on math and to carry the class if needed.” And with Feng’s help and the interactive preparation made readily available at Exeter, the students were able to reach far and win three medals.“Exeter helped me appreciate math more,” Li said. “It gave me a better understanding of why we study math, and what exactly makes math cool. As a result, my contest math experience in the last three years has been a lot richer.”
