Leadership

Alex Zivkovic is a junior at University High School in Irvine with a long-standing enthusiasm for science and mathematics. Hoping to support students who also share his interest in math and science competitions, Alex volunteers at Vista Verde, assisting both their science program and math team when needed, in addition to his work through the Orange County Math Circle. 

Alex has a varied background with math competitions, having competed in the Orange County Math Field Day competition in elementary school, and (since then) the California Math League, AMC 8, 10, and 12, as well as the Mandelbrot competition. This background in math competitions has served him well in helping prepare the elementary and middle school programs here for the Santa Ana Math Club which he helped initiate.

However, Alex’s academic interests extend past mathematics. He has conducted research pertaining to ecology and water quality in Orange County for five years which has qualified him for OCSEF five times and the state science fair three times. In addition to this, he pursues this interest in science through his school’s Science Olympiad team, winning numerous medals including first place at state. He enjoys languages and fluently speaks two, with a third and fourth (Spanish and Esperanto) on the way. His other interests are swimming and art, both of which he has done year-round since the age of six.  In his high school, he is a member of the Touch Art Club, the secretary of the Science Club, the treasurer of Uni’s chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance, and the Creative Director of Olympia magazine.

Elisa Young joined the Orange County Math Circle with hopes to promote math awareness and interest, especially for girls and younger students in general. Elisa discovered her interest in math problem solving when she first participated in the Math Counts competition in seventh grade. Since joining the OC Math Circle, she has found it a wonderful opportunity to meet and work with math enthusiasts across Orange County to promote mathematics.  

Andrew Ma is presently a sophomore at University High School with an ambition to become a Supreme Court Justice. Andrew has high interests in law and mathematics as well as English and debate, incorporating two “different worlds into one fluid way of thinking”.  Having attended Westpark Elementary School, Andrew has participated on the Rancho San Joaquin Middle School Mathcounts team, earning 2^nd in the county competition.  Last year, Andrew made the United States of America Math Olympiad as one of around thirty freshmen across the nation, as well as earning an 11 out of 15 on last year’s American Invitational Mathematical Exam.

In his debate career, Andrew is the current National Director of Communications for the Junior Statesmen Foundation, working directly with Representatives from Washington, D.C. for student activism and political awareness. He also attended the Montezuma Leadership Summit, a prestigious and selective camp for top debaters across the nation, as well as lobbying for local and national campaigns.

In his effort to increase activism in society, Andrew has joined the Orange County Math Circle in order to educate kids from all backgrounds and to “connect students of varying histories by the communal process of learning”. By applying his political and activist knowledge to his vast background of mathematics, Andrew desires to raise awareness for education and increase public awareness of educational reform. 

Additional daily activities that Andrew is devoted to include piano (which he has played for 10 years), swimming, organizing conferences, and writing reports for the national Junior State newsletter.

Leon Yao is currently a senior at Troy High School and has dreams of becoming an Electrical Engineer. His mathematical career first started in 7th grade when he took the AMC 8, Math League, and Math Counts competition as an individual. Soon he created his own Math Counts team at Chaparral Middle School and led the team as a coach and captain. Ever since, he has been enthusiastically helping others at his school and pursuing further successes in competitions with his high school team, such as Math Day at the Beach and Caltech-Harvey Mudd Math Competition. 

Leon soon discovered the joy of working with peers to solve complicated math problems. He joined the Orange County Math Circle as the Director of Competitions in order to promote the interest in team math competitions in southern California. He believes that when students work together with other like-minded students, they will enhance their understanding and love for math even further. 

In addition to his mathematical career, Leon has been very interested in the sciences as he joined Troy’s Science Olympiad team since his freshman year. He has also been researching in Professor Alan Willner’s Optical Communications lab for the past two years and is considering continuing with this topic of research for years to come. 

Vickie Ye is a junior at Arnold O. Beckman High School. She was first exposed to discreet math in 8^th grade but only became an enthusiastic problem solver when she started high school and joined her school math club. She has since then competed in many local competitions with her school, as well as in the American Regional Math League with the Southern California team and individually in the American Math Competition and the American Invitational Math Exam.

Being exposed to mathematical problem solving has not only allowed Vickie a source of intellectual challenge, creativity, and  cultivation but has also led to exposure and interest in other branches of problem solving in the sciences. She participated in the US National Chemistry Olympiad and received the American Chemical Society National Honors for being one of the 150 top performing competitors in the nation. She also works with the Burratto Group at UCSB in fuel cell research. She fervently believes that starting math problem solving was pivotal in her life.

Vickie joined the Orange County Math circle because of the huge impact that problem solving has had on her life. As the Director of Membership this year, she hopes to help increase appreciation of math problem solving as a welcoming challenge that begets intellectual creativity, especially in high school students. She also hopes to expand the OCMC and encourage more math activists to join the endeavor to strengthen math culture in Orange County. 

Catherine is currently a senior at Northwood High School in Irvine. She has had an interest in math and science since a young age and upon entering high school she joined the Math Olympiad and Science Olympiad teams. She has placed first in events at the regional and state level Science Olympiad competitions and was a semifinalist in the USA Biology Olympiad. During her summers, she has conducted scientific research in labs at UC Irvine and Stanford University. As an aspiring physician and scientist, Catherine has volunteered at hospitals and founded the American Heart Association club at her school.

A passionate writer as well, Catherine serves as the Editor-in-Chief of her high school’s online student newspaper and the Managing Editor of Northwood’s OCJEA award-winning print newspaper The Howler. She also volunteered to work as the Copy Editor of her school’s yearbook after school and developed and implemented a new streamlined editing process. In an effort to meld her interests in the humanities and the sciences, Catherine used her online journalism experience to create the OCMC newspaper The Orange County Scholar.

Catherine also enjoys making cards, holiday grams, and baked goods for the senior center at which she volunteers regularly. For her community involvement, scholastic achievement, and leadership, Catherine was recognized as the Youth of the Month by the Crossroads Exchange Club of Orange County.

Currently a sophomore at University High School, Kevin has been fascinated by numbers since a young age. He explored more advanced mathematical concepts through elementary and middle school, teaching himself along the way, and began competing in math competitions in 8^th grade. With a keen interest in applied math, Kevin is studying differential equations at UC Irvine, and is working to apply them in a research project. He has also found physics to be intriguing, and competes in the USA Physics Olympiad.

Kevin joined the Orange County Math Circle as the Director of Communications to help cultivate a love for math in students of all ages and share with them the joy it can bring. He believes success in problem solving builds confidence, enhances creativity, and makes math fun, and seeks to illustrate these experiences to others.