Sherry Gong ’07 earned a silver medal at this year’s 2006 International Physics Olympiad, the first international physics award to be awarded by an Exeter student since 1999. The Olympiad is a worldwide competition among high-school physics students, held last month at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She was among five 2006 U.S. physics team members, four of whom earned gold medals.

Physics instructor Scott Saltman said Sherry’s passion and commitment to working hard have resulted in her accomplishments. “Sherry is passionate about physics. Her achievement in this competition is a tribute to her hard work and her tremendous insight. It's a great honor for the Academy to have a student reach this prestigious level,” he said.

The other team players were awarded gold medals. Menyoung Lee, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA, who won a gold medal for the second year in a row; William Throwe, a senior at Shoreham-Wading River High School, Shoreham, NY; Henry Tung, a junior at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego; and Otis A Chodosh, a senior at the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics in Oklahoma City. 

Team head coach Robert Shurtz said the U.S. team met with great success, earning an unofficial ranking of second. Countries were judged based on a total score of the five-team members. Chinas’ students came in first with the highest overall total scores. This was largest International Physics Olympiad to date with 86 nations participating with 383 competitors. Last year at the international competition held in Salamanca, Spain, the U.S. team brought home two gold, two silver and a bronze medal.

In May, 24 top US physics students attended a nine-day training camp at The University of Maryland, where, through classes, labs and special lectures, they were coached on difficult physics concepts before taking a final, qualifying exam. They also made a trip to nearby Washington, DC, to meet personally with their state senators and representatives in the US Congress and House of Representatives.

The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT,) a non-profit organization based in College Park, MD, co-sponsored these activities. The U.S. Physics Olympiad Program was started in 1986 to promote and demonstrate academic excellence and prepare students to compete in the International Physics Olympiad. The U.S. Physics Team is co-sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics.

Read Sherry Gong's biography

Learn more about this year's traveling team

Learn about Exeter's Science department