Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics
1141 North Lincoln Boulevard
Oklahoma City, OK 73104
Phone: 405/522-7806
Fax: 405/521-6442
Email: droberts@ossm.edu
May 4, 2006 Contact: Donna Roberts
Edmond Youth Will Represent U.S.
at International Physics
Olympiad
The American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Institute of Physics have announced the names of the five high school students who will compete for the United States on the 2006 United States Physics Olympiad Team. Otis Chodosh of Edmond, Oklahoma, is one of the team members. On July 4th, the U.S. team will leave for Singapore to enter the
competition against teams from 85 countries, the most that have ever participated in the Physics Olympiad. This year marks the 37th year for the international competition.
Chodosh graduated last week from the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics. He began the quest to become a member of the U.S. Physics Team by sitting for an initial exam early this year. Over 1200 students from across the nation took the exam which narrowed the field to 200 semifinalists. After another exam, Otis was selected as one of 24 students who met at the University of Maryland from May 19 through May 29, for intensive training sessions and laboratory practice. After ten days training, which included instruction in laboratory and problem solving skills and lectures by prominent physicists, five team members were chosen to represent the United States. Another
OSSM student, Haofei Wei of Tulsa became a finalist and attended the training camp, but will not compete internationally.
“We attribute the success of these two exceptional students,” said Dr. Edna Manning, OSSM President, “to the strength of the physics instruction they received here at OSSM and in their home high schools, and to their own hard work and extraordinary dedication to their studies.”
Earlier this year, in its 2006 Advanced Placement Report to the Nation, the College Board named OSSM’s Physics C – Electricity and Magnetism course the strongest of its kind in the world. Chodosh has taken that particular course, as well as courses such as Physics AP, Modern Physics, Thermal Physics Waves & Optics, General Physics, Mechanics, and Electronic Circuits, since he attended OSSM.
Chodosh formerly attended ASTEC Charter High School in Oklahoma City.
He is the son of Abi and Jim Chodosh of Edmond. He is an AP Scholar with Distinction,
won the Caltech Signature Award and the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement, and last year was the captain of the OSSM team that placed first in national TEAM+S competition. Chodosh is an avid backpacking and mountaineering enthusiast, and participates in fencing. He was a goal tender with the Mid-America Ice Hockey League, a sport he hopes to pursue at Stanford University next year where he plans to major in physics or mathematics.
For more information on the U.S. Physics Team: www.aapt.org/olympiad2006/