Exeter, NH (June 12, 2009)—The Phillips Exeter Academy Math Club placed second last month in the 2009 American Regions Mathematics League (ARML) competition—the largest, on-site mathematics face-off in the country, involving students and teachers from almost every state and region. PEA’s 15-member team was led by graduating seniors and co-captains Gye Hyun Baek from Seoul, Korea, and Qian “Amy” Huang from Tenafly, NJ.

The team earned 201 points, finishing 14 points behind the first-place winner, Lehigh Valley—a team from the Pennsylvania-New Jersey region. Considered the pinnacle of mathematics competitions, the ARML examination is written for high school students, and a few exceptional pupils in middle school. Almost 2,000 students from more than 130 regional and state teams participated in the meet. The competition is held simultaneously in several sites internationally, including four in the U.S.: Penn State; the University of Iowa; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and the University of Georgia. Team member Warut Suksompong ’09 (Bangkoknoi, Thailand) was named this year’s runner-up in the individual national champion’s category.

This year, Exeter’s team#comprised of Math Club members and math whizzes#competed in four areas of competition. In addition to Baek, Huang and Suksompong, team members included: Ravi M. Charan ’10 (Minneapolis, MN); In Young Cho ’11 (Seoul, Korea); Karl W. Cobbe ’09 (Nevada City, CA); Hoon Pyo “Timothy” Jeon ’11 (Attleboro, MA); Adisa Kruayatidee ’11 (Exeter, NH); Yong Wook “Spencer” Kwon ’12 (Seoul, Korea); Harold M. Li ’11 (Hong Kong, P.R.China); Yidan Li ’10 (Beijing, P.R.China); Daniel Y. Lu ’10 (Union, KY); Minseon Shin ’09 (Naperville, IL); David W. Xiao ’10 (Brentwood, NH); and Shijie “Joy” Zheng ’11 (Shoreline, WA).

The team traveled 10 hours to State College, PA, for the two-day competition, which was held May 29-30.

Since 1998, PEA has competed in the ARML competition, as well as other regional, national and international math challenges. Math Instructor and Club Adviser Zuming Feng was quite proud of this year’s team. “Our team members really did well in the competition. Although we went with a short roster, every team member contributed, with all doing more than I could ask for,” he says.

For more information, visit Exeter’s math department to learn more about the student organization, the PEA Math Club.