AHS 2011 GRADUATE TO REPRESENT U.S.
AT INTERNATIONAL PHYSICS OLYMPIAD

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1st, 2011

For more information contact
Valerie Terando
Ames Community Schools
515.268.6650
valerie.terando@ames.k12.ia.us

AMES—Ames High School (AHS) 2011 graduate Lucy Chen didn’t walk across the stage to collect her diploma during the school’s commencement ceremonies last month at Hilton Coliseum.  In fact, she was more than 1,000 miles away in College Park, Maryland, competing for a spot on the elite traveling portion of the U.S. Physics Team.  Only five high school students from across the country are chosen to be on the Traveling Team.  Chen learned Monday, after days of grueling competition, that she has earned a place on the 2011 Traveling Team.

The quiet young lady with an easy smile spoke in AHS principal Spence Evans’ office Tuesday, just a day after learning she had been chosen as a member of the 2011 Traveling Team that will compete on behalf of the United States at the International Physics Olympiad, to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, in July.  She explained that the competition began earlier in the school year, when several thousand high school students from across the U.S. took the initial exam in an effort to qualify for advanced rounds of the U.S. Physics Olympiad. 

Through a rigorous exam process, the field was whittled down to 20 students from across the country.  Those 20 comprise the 2011 U.S. Physics Team.  Following the selection, Chen traveled to the University of Maryland in College Park to participate in the U.S. Physics Team training camp.  She said during her time there, she spent 10 to 12 hours daily learning advanced physics topics, taking exams, completing labs, and bonding with fellow team members. She added, “The training camp is essentially a crash course through the first two years of university physics, but it also affords students the opportunity to learn about cutting-edge research from some of the community’s leading physicists.”
Chen says one head academic coach and one head lab coach will travel with the U.S. delegation to Thailand.  The competition takes place July 10-18.  There, more than 400 student scholars from 90 countries will test their knowledge in physics. 

According to the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), which sponsors the USA Physics Olympiad, over the past 10 years, every U.S. Physics Team member traveling to the international competition has earned a medal. 

This is the second year Chen has been a member of the U.S. Physics Team.  In 2010, she attended the training camp but was excluded from Traveling Team selection due to a prior commitment to attend the Research Science Institute, a six-week research camp held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Chen will attend Harvard in the fall.  “I haven’t decided on a course of study yet.  I’m considering biophysics, possibly medical physics.”  In the meantime, Chen says she will spend the next five weeks studying physics.  “They gave us (the five team members) a CD with material to study, and we’re expected to at least take one five-hour exam every two to three days.”  She added, “I need to figure out how to distribute the many hours of preparation required for the International Olympiad.”  But rest assured, she’ll be ready to compete!

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