Aurora, ON - A Grade 10 student at Dr. G.W. Williams S.S. achieved a perfect score in a University of Waterloo math contest.
Gavin Song was the only student completing the Cayley (Mathematics) Contest to receive a perfect score.
“When I found out I’d received top honours, I was obviously shocked and very excited,” Song said. “I was also quite happy that my hard work and dedication to learning and practicing contest math paid off.”
Song, who wants to attend the University of Waterloo for post-secondary for computer science or technological research, credits his parents for fostering his interest in math at an early age.
"This achievement by Gavin Song is nothing short of mind blowing, to both myself and our whole math department. We have seen some very impressive performances on these University of Waterloo contests, but never a perfect score,” said Brad MacIntosh, Mathematics Department Head at Dr. G. W. Williams, S.S. “We are so proud of Gavin for his 150 out of 150 score! We wish school was a little more normal right now, so we could celebrate Gavin's performance with the whole school population." MacIntosh noted that over the past 20 years, over 500,000 students have written the contest and only 19 have received perfect scores.
“The staff at Williams is so impressed at Gavin’s incredible accomplishment. Gavin is a collaborative learner who does not settle for the status quo. He is respected by his peers as a humble student who reserves his words and when he does contribute others stop to listen as what he has to say is valued. We are fortunate that we have been able to nurture his learning in his time at Williams and know that he is destined to make a difference,” added Principal Melissa Schmidt.
York Region District School Board is the third largest school district in Ontario with over 127,000 students in 180 elementary schools and 33 secondary schools. York Region students consistently perform above average in provincial testing and the Board is one of the top achievers in Ontario. For more information about the York Region District School Board, please visit our website: www.yrdsb.ca and follow us on Twitter: @YRDSB.
For further information:
Jamie Bennett
Corporate Communications
905-727-0022 Ext. 2272