Contestants for the 2017 National Who Wants to Be a Mathematician

Shreyas Balaji, senior, John Foster Dulles High School (TX)

USA Physics Olympiad team member.

Shreyas can't wait until the next book in The Stormlight Archive series is released, so he thinks he is lucky that the author, Brandon Sanderson, writes rather quickly.

Aadil Bhore, senior, The Lawrenceville School (NJ)

His favorite thing about school is the physics class he is taking at Princeton.

Aadil has been to 40 states and has created a recipe for tofu waffles.

His local newspaper published news about him qualifying (you may have to answer a survey to read the article).

Andrew Hwang, junior, Adlai E. Stevenson High School (IL)

He enjoys the many activities and clubs available at his school, and especially enjoyed his time at PROMYS this summer.

An article about Andrew's qualification for Who Wants to Be a Mathematician appeared in the Chicago Tribune: "Math-based game show could lead to multiplication in Stevenson student's wallet." After the game, an article appeared in the Daily Herald, Parents' sacrifice spurs Lincolnshire teen's success, with more information on Andrew, including the fact that he and his parents had to drive to the game in Atlanta because their flight was cancelled.

Junhee Lee, junior, Iowa City West High School

He also qualified for the 2016 national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician, which took place in Seattle.

If Junhee wins first place, he may give most of his cash winnings to his school's math department, because he doesn't buy too many things and so doesn't have much use for the money.

Read about Junhee and his second-place finish in the competition.

Patrick Lei, senior, Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science

Patrick goes to the same school as last year's runner-up, Karthik Karnik, and has replaced Karthik as the school's math team captain.

He loves to play pranks on people.

Patrick's school posted news about him and his qualifying for the 2017 national contest.

William Luo, junior, Lynbrook High School (CA)

William enjoys the intellectual collaborations at school and also enjoys practicing violin with his friends.

He likes teaching and explaining things to others, not only because it helps them, but also because it helps him understand the concepts better.

William's qualifying for the national contest was written up in the Mercury News (San Jose).

Graham O'Donnell, junior, Lincoln High School (FL)

Graham was a finalist at ARML (American Regions Mathematics League) in 2015 and 2016, and got a perfect score on the AP Physics C: Mechanics Exam in 2016.

He has three pet box turtles as well as two dogs.

Spoiler alert: Graham won the 2017 contest. Here's a story about him and his victory, "Lincoln High math whiz wins big in national competition," which ran on Tallahassee's WCTV.

Kalen Patton, senior, Chattahoochee High School (GA)

He got a perfect score on the 2015 AP Chemistry Exam, one of only four in the world.

Last summer Kalen (like Andrew above) attended PROMYS, a six-week summer math program at Boston University.

Kalen's appearance in the national Who Wants to Be a Mathematician was covered by the Johns Creek Herald and in a general story on the game by the local NPR station, WABE.

Oliver Song, senior, Southside Christian School (SC)

He doesn't like cheese or chocolate.

If Oliver wins the big cash prize, he hopes to buy a massage chair for his host dad.

Kevin Wang, senior, Fairview High School (CO)

Kevin is a four-time AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination) qualifier.

He was named after Kevin Garnett, and although he probably won't grow to be 6'11", as Garnett did, Kevin (Wang) "can still shoot the lights out."

9News in Denver featured Kevin in its Jan. 3 newscast.