The Avid Learner

Avid Academy for Gifted Youth will again hold the AMC 10/12 Exams at Concordia University free of charge to all interested students Southern California.

Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Time: 6:30 - 8:00 PM

Location: Room TBD, Concordia University, Irvine

The registration deadline has been extended to February 5 for AMC 10/12A. To register, please visit the following web page: AMC 10A and 12A Registration Form.

FREE California Math League Contests for Grades 6 - 8

Avid Academy will host the 2008 California Math League Contests free of charge to interested students in Grades 6 - 8. The students will compete for top honors in the State of California and Orange County. Winners will be honored at Avid Academy's Annual Excellence in Mathematics Award Ceremony in June, 2008.

Date: Saturday, February 23, 2008

Time:

09:00 - 09:55 AM: 6^th Grade Contest
10:00 - 10:55 AM: 7^th Grade Contest
11:00 - 11:55 AM: 8^th Grade Contest

Location: GH121, Concordia University, Irvine

To register for the contest, please download the registration form at: 2008 California Math League Contests Registration Form.

2008 Orange County Math Olympiad Summer Camps Schedule Available

Avid Academy for Gifted Youth has released its schedule for the 2008 Orange County Math Olympiad Summer Camps:

Session A-I (grades 4 - 6): July 7 - July 18, 8:30 - 11:30 AM
Session A-II (grades 7 - 8): July 7 - July 18, 12:30 - 3:30 PM
Session A-III (grades 9 - 11): July 7 - July 18, 5:30 - 8:30 PM
Session B-I (grades 4 - 6): July 21 - August 1, 8:30 - 11:30 AM
Session B-II (grades 7 - 8): July 21 - August 1, 12:30 - 3:30 PM
Session B-III (grades 9 - 11): July 21 - August 1, 5:30 - 8:30 PM

For more information, please visit our website at 2008 Orange County Math Olympiad Summer Program.

Avid Academy Middle Schooler Shine at 2007 Ciphering Time Trials

Avid Academy students outperformed its peers at 2007 Ciphering Time Trials, a national mathematics contest administered by National Assessment & Testing (http://www.natassessment.com) by taking five of the top 20 honors:

1st Place: David Y., 6th grade, South Pointe Middle School, Walnut
5th Place: Dai Y., 8th grade, Rancho San Joaquin Middle School, Irvine
7th Place: Sean J., 8th grade, Canyon Hills Junior High School, Chino Hills
11th Place: Derrick X. 8th grade, Don Juan Avila Middle School, Aliso Viejo
14th Place: Tyler V. 8th grade, El Cerrito Middle School, Corona

In the 9th grade division, two students received top honors:

7th Place: Johnny L., St . Margaret's Episcopal School, San Juan Capistrano
10th Place: Eddie D., University High School, Irvine

For the full copy of the press release from National Assessment, please visit Avid Academy Students Receive Awards in National Math Contest.

MAA Releases Documentary Film "Hard Problems"

The Mathematics Association of America has released "Hard Problems", a feature documentary by George Csicsery. The film is about the extraordinarily gifted students who represented the United States in 2006 at the world's toughest math competitions - the 2006 International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). It is the story of six American high school students who competed with 500 others from 90 countries in Slovenia.

Two former Southern California high school students featured in the film are Zeb Brady and Tedrick Leung. Zeb is a student at Cal Tech while Tedrick attends MIT after gratuating last year.

To learn more about the movie, please visit Hard Problems.

	College Applicants Reach All-Time High
New York Times reported that the applications to selective colleges reached an all-time high this year. Harvard saw a 19% increase in the number of applications over last year. Other schools such as Princeton, Dartmouth, University of Chicago, and Northwest all saw record number of applications. For more information, please read Applications to Colleges Are Breaking Records.

Elite Colleges Increase Financial Aids Packages

Colleges with rich endowments are increasing their financial aid packages to middle class families. The increases are coming in three aspects:

Elimination to family contributions for low income families earning as much as $75,000 per year.
Reduction of family contributions for middle class families earning between $75,000 - $200,000 per year to as little as 10% of their annual income.
Replacement of student loans, which a student must payback over the years, with grants, which requires no paybacks.

Here are some recent news articles on changes in college financial aids policies:

Harvard: reduces contributions from families making $120,000 - $180,000 to 10% of their income.
Yale: will dramatically reduce the required contribution for families making up to $200,000 a year.

Dartmouth: Free for students from families with income below $75,000.

Brown: $20 millions increases in financial aids next year.

Physics Lectures on iTunes by MIT Professor

MIT Professor Walter Lewin is a star on iTunes. His video taped physics lectures, free online at MIT OpenCourseWare website and iTunes, have won him devoted fans all over the world as reported by Sara Rimer of New York Times: At 71, Physics Professor Is a Web Star.

If you own an i-Pod, you should check out the online university at iTunes where you can download lectures from well-known professors at MIT, Stanford, Yale, and other leading universities free of charge. Learning will never be the same again for you.

I hope you enjoyed the information provided in this newsletter. Thank you for supporting gifted education in Southern California. If you have comments to improve our newsletters or would like to share articles, resources and ideas with our community, please email me at Dr.Li@AvidAcademy.com.

Sincerely,

James Li, Ph.D

Executive Director
Avid Academy for Gifted Youth