Biography
I have lived in Lexington, MA all my life. In sixth grade, I got hooked on math, and started independently reading and doing math. I kept up the habit, and it has led me to considerable success in math. I have won many math contests, including the USA Math Olympiad (I was top 12 last year). Last summer, at the Research Science Institute summer program at MIT, I started a math project which I continued to work on in the late summer and early fall. With this project, I placed first in the Siemens Westinghouse Competition (winning a $100,000 scholarship), and was a finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search. I became interested in physics in ninth grade, when a teacher at my school (a former U.S. Physics Team member himself), lent me a book of olympiad-level physics problems and a college physics textbook. The next year, while I was taking my school’s sophomore physics course, I studied independently to take the AP Physics C exam, and was a New England Champion in the Physics Bowl. The physics I have learned since then has come both from further independent study and from the 2002 U.S. Physics Team Training Camp (where I won a scholarship for being chosen as one of the top five). I really enjoyed the Camp and the friends I made there, and I am looking forward to going again this year. I also won a Siemens AP award and three gold metals on the National Latin Exam. In addition, I enjoy singing in several school music groups, acting in school musicals, playing piano, running cross country, and participating in my school’s debate club. Next year, I will go to Harvard.