The U.S. continued its dominance in chemistry on the world stage this week, winning four gold medals for the second year in a row at the International Chemistry Olympiad, which began this year on July 19 in Slovakia and concluded on July 29 in the Czech Republic. China, which won the top scoring gold medal, was the only other country to win four golds this year. Sycamore grad Andrew Wu, who attends Park Tudor, was 12th in the gold medal category out of 300 high school students representing 76 countries. He said the team was unified in their goal of getting four gold medals this year. “We helped each other be the best we could.”
“This is the highest performance we’ve ever had in this competition,” says Christine Saber, head mentor for the U.S. team and an assistant chemistry professor at Gannon University. “I could not be more proud of these students. They were equally strong in both the theory and the practical, which is what led them to be our strongest performers yet.”
The U.S. team, which is sponsored by the American Chemical Society, was made up of Yutong Dai of Princeton International School of Mathematics & Science in Princeton, N.J.; Michelle Lu of Pomperaug High School in Southbury, Conn.; Jeffrey Shi of Marcellus High School in Marcellus, N.Y.; and Andrew Wu of Park Tudor School in Indianapolis.
Shi, Lu, Wu, and Dai placed 4th, 10th, 12th, and 13th, respectively, in the gold medal category. This year, competition organizers awarded a total of 35 gold medals, 65 silver medals, and 95 bronze medals to the group of 300 high school students representing 76 countries. Each country is allowed to send up to four students to the competition.