Darsh Mirchandani, a New Hyde Park Road School fourth grader and Fiona O’Reilly, a New Hyde Park Road School sixth grader, were accepted into a competitive mathematics program at the Institute of Creative Problem Solving for Gifted and Talented Students at State University of New York at Old Westbury.
The Institute of Creative Problem Solving for Gifted and Talented Students is one of the most competitive programs in the nation. Each year approximately 700 outstanding students are nominated on Long Island for 84 available spots. Selection by the Institute implies that a student is among the top one-tenth of one percent of all students in mathematics on Long Island in his or her grade. Acceptance is based on three criteria: a rigorous entrance exam, a recommendation of student’s math teacher and a school transcript or report card.
Mirchandani and O’Reilly will begin classes in September 2018, where they will spend sixty hours in class and on related outside projects. They will learn about mathematical topics such as algebra, geometry, and number theory, as well as others not included in the standard courses of study, like problem-solving applied to probability, theory of finite differences, and mass point geometry. Additionally, selected applications of mathematics taken from science and engineering are presented and discussed.
