Exeter, NH (April 27, 2007)—Two Phillips Exeter Academy students, senior Sherry Gong ’07 of San Juan, PR, and 11th-grader Yingyu “Dan” Gao ’08 of Hockessin, DE, were named members of this year’s U.S. Physics Team, and will be among 24 high school students nationwide to participate in a training camp for the 2007 Physics Olympiad international competition. Gong and Gao were chosen out of 10 Exeter semifinalists and 38 initial contestants.

Both students were chosen after two rounds of exams and submitted transcripts and letters of recommendations were reviewed. The training camp will be held in late May at the University of Maryland, College Park for nine days. Finalists will engage in rigorous studying, testing and problem-solving, in preparation for the international competition, which will be held this summer. At the camp’s end, five students will be chosen for the Olympiad “Traveling Team.” The team later returns for three additional days of intense laboratory study before taking on the final international contest.

Gong and Gao were also selected as finalists in the 2006 Physics Olympiad. This year, Phillips Exeter Academy tied with Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia for the largest number of semifinalists.

A complete list of upcoming events is available on the Phillips Exeter Academy public events line at (603) 777-4309 and on our website at www.exeter.edu. For directions, call (603) 777-4330.

Phillips Exeter Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory school that was founded in 1781 and originated the system of instruction known as Harkness teaching in 1931. In the spirit of its charter to foster both goodness and knowledge, students come from a wide variety of geographic, economic, racial and religious backgrounds. The diverse student body comes from approximately 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and 26 foreign countries.