For the two years the program ran, the mission consisted of two goals:

(a) Provide an avenue for gifted students in the Central Florida area to further improve their mathematical problem solving and communication skills.

(b) Increase the number of students in Central Florida who qualify for the AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination)

With a greater emphasis on minimal standards (FCAT), often times, talented students in public high schools aren’t getting to achieve mathematically, to their potential. The goal of this program was to provide a venue for these students so they can grow mathematically, more than what their typical classes had allowed.

In particular, many college mathematics professors find that college freshmen are weak in their mathematical proof and writing skills. By creating questions that required detailed justifications and rewarding students for these justifications (instead of just rewarding correct answers), I hoped that area students reach college with greater proficiency in proof writing and mathematical problem solving.

As a by-product of allowing talented students in the area to think about some interesting questions, I hoped that more of these students would qualify to take the AIME.

During those two years however, participation was too low to have any real impact and without access to records of the area high schools, I was unable to see the number of area students who qualified for the AIME.

Arup Guha