2008 Woodie Awards
Student places second in nationwide competition
Nitzan Beck
Issue date: 6/2/08 Section: News
By placing second in the nation in the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges Competition, De Anza College student Yujin Yoshimura broke a promise to himself.
Before moving from the Philippines to the United States, Yoshimura said he would stop competing because math competitions caused him to do poorly in school. For example, he failed English because he couldn't attend class regularly.
Yoshimura also placed first in the Northern California division and received a $500 cash prize.
The AMATYC competition is offered in October and March, consisting of a 20 question test, for which only a pencil and calculator are needed.
In October, 26 De Anza students participated in the competition and in March, 50 students participated. According to Lakshmi Vanniasegaram, mathematics instructor at De Anza, students are not required to take both tests in order to compete.
"It's open to all community colleges in the United States," Vanniasegaram said.
Yoshimura's past mathematics instructor, Vladimir Logvinenko, said Yoshimura has extremely precise thinking, a very good reasoning ability and is quick when solving math problems.
In fact, Logvinenko, who has been surrounded by math his whole life, said that sometimes Yoshimura can solve problems much faster than him.
"I am 65 years old, I still put papers in professional journals," said Logvinenko. However, when a math problem might take Logvinenko an hour to solve, Yoshimura can solve it in 10 or 15 seconds.
Furthermore, Logvinenko said Yoshimura is talented in articulating math orally. He said Yoshimura's explanations can be understood by anyone, even those not skilled in math. "At least two or three students passed because of his being in [my] class," said Logvinenko.
Yoshimura's earliest experience with math was when his father bought him a multiplication table for his fifth birthday. It was pinned up on his wall, forcing him to look at it everyday. He didn't understand what multiplication meant, but he found the numbers fun.
"Eventually I found there are so many patterns in the multiplication table," said Yoshimura. "It's like a puzzle."
However, it was when he moved from Japan to the Philippines that he really began to rely on math. The only language Yoshimura knew was Japanese, impeding his ability to excel in elementary school.
In high school, Yoshimura was invited by his math instructor to a math competition. "I was the champion," said Yoshimura, who always came in first place.
"Other students said that when Yujin participates it's not fun because they already know the results before the competition," he said.
He continued to participate in competitions at a local, regional and national level. High school and college instructors became well aware of his name, some even inviting him to attend their lectures. Yoshimura has participated in 50 math competitions since high school.
Before moving from the Philippines to the United States, Yoshimura said he would stop competing because math competitions caused him to do poorly in school. For example, he failed English because he couldn't attend class regularly.
Yoshimura also placed first in the Northern California division and received a $500 cash prize.
The AMATYC competition is offered in October and March, consisting of a 20 question test, for which only a pencil and calculator are needed.
In October, 26 De Anza students participated in the competition and in March, 50 students participated. According to Lakshmi Vanniasegaram, mathematics instructor at De Anza, students are not required to take both tests in order to compete.
"It's open to all community colleges in the United States," Vanniasegaram said.
Yoshimura's past mathematics instructor, Vladimir Logvinenko, said Yoshimura has extremely precise thinking, a very good reasoning ability and is quick when solving math problems.
In fact, Logvinenko, who has been surrounded by math his whole life, said that sometimes Yoshimura can solve problems much faster than him.
"I am 65 years old, I still put papers in professional journals," said Logvinenko. However, when a math problem might take Logvinenko an hour to solve, Yoshimura can solve it in 10 or 15 seconds.
Furthermore, Logvinenko said Yoshimura is talented in articulating math orally. He said Yoshimura's explanations can be understood by anyone, even those not skilled in math. "At least two or three students passed because of his being in [my] class," said Logvinenko.
Yoshimura's earliest experience with math was when his father bought him a multiplication table for his fifth birthday. It was pinned up on his wall, forcing him to look at it everyday. He didn't understand what multiplication meant, but he found the numbers fun.
"Eventually I found there are so many patterns in the multiplication table," said Yoshimura. "It's like a puzzle."
However, it was when he moved from Japan to the Philippines that he really began to rely on math. The only language Yoshimura knew was Japanese, impeding his ability to excel in elementary school.
In high school, Yoshimura was invited by his math instructor to a math competition. "I was the champion," said Yoshimura, who always came in first place.
"Other students said that when Yujin participates it's not fun because they already know the results before the competition," he said.
He continued to participate in competitions at a local, regional and national level. High school and college instructors became well aware of his name, some even inviting him to attend their lectures. Yoshimura has participated in 50 math competitions since high school.
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