DOWNEY - Students from Rio San Gabriel Elementary participated in monthly Math Olympiad competitions throughout the school year. They were among nearly 150,000 students worldwide to participate.The Math Olympiads serve more than 4,500 teams nationally and about 2,000 teams in more than 30 other countries. Since 1979 it has provided challenging, thought-provoking problems that stretch the abilities of students in grades 4-8, strengthening the foundation for both assessment tests and more advanced studies. This was Rio San Gabriel's first year participating in the fourth-sixth grade category. Jonathan Jin earned the silver pin for scoring between the 90th and 97th percentile of all participants. Jonathan also received the embroidered felt patch, which is awarded to students in the top 50 percent of all participants, along with students Eric Huber, Abraham Jeong, Kyle Vasquez and Eduardo Bayardo. Competing by grade within Rio San Gabriel and taking first place among third graders (and in the top 1 percent of all third graders in the Math Olympiad) was Eric Huber. Alekzander Grijalva was in second place. In fourth grade, Abraham Jeong finished in first place, Jeremy Park in second, and Joshua Lopez and Claire Smith in third. Among fifth graders, Jonathan Jin was first, Kyle Vasquez second and Eduardo Bayardo third. Overall within the school, Jonathan Jin placed first, Eric Huber second and Abraham Jeong and Kyle Vasquez tied for third. This was Rio San Gabriel's first time participating in the international math contest. More than 35 students participated.

********** Published: June 17, 2010 - Volume 9 - Issue 9