To many students, math may seem like nothing but a bunch of numbers, symbols, and headache. But to William Chen, math is beautiful.

“It lies at the intersection of art and science,” Chen said. “I love how math is purely abstractions and creations of the mind. The disconnect from the real world allows math to go basically anywhere and find proofs and define things that I find fascinating."

This 2010 Amador Valley High School graduate and class valedictorian is now majoring in mathematics at the prestigious Harvard University.

His love of math began in elementary school when he began doing math puzzles and competitions. When middle school came, he was doing more challenging puzzles and began reading books on math-related activities, like chess. By high school, he was attending math talks at the Berkeley Math Circle and participating in regional, statewide, and national math competitions.

While in high school, Chen created the Amador Valley High School Geometry Bee in 2008, a competition similar to a spelling bee but in each round, contestants compete to try and solve the same problem. The contestants are also given the chance to answer all of ten questions rather than being eliminated if one question is answered wrong.

The Geometry Bee continues on each year, drawing in hundreds of math-enthusiasts and students from schools all over Pleasanton.

Chen's personal list of achievements and awards won during high school seem almost infinite. He was a national Merit Scholar, Dept. of Education Presidential Scholar Candidate, a USA Physics Olympiad Quarter-Finalist, and an Invitational Round qualifier for the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad.

He is a recipient of the Helen L. Vardon Award for the “Most Outstanding Graduating Senior”, the Comcast Leaders and Achievers Award, and the California Dept. of Education and California Mathematics Council Award. He also qualified first place in Mathematical Sciences at the Tri-Valley Science and Engineering Fair.

However, with his teammates from the Amador Valley math team, the list continues.

They placed fifth in the nation in a 2008 Collaborative Problem-Solving contest. 

He served as president of the team for two consecutive years but stepped down his Senior year to give other students a chance to lead and organize the team. Despite having graduated, he still continues to offer guidance and support to students on the team.

“I found helping others appreciate the beauty of mathematics the greatest joy in high school and I'm happy to be able to continue [doing so in] college," Chen said.

His skills learned from the high school math team have definitely come in handy in college. He is now Co-Tournament Director for the Harvard-MIT Math Tournament, where he directs two math tournaments annually. He leads and organizes a staff of Harvard and MIT students in developing and improving the math tournaments. Over 900 students attend from local, national and international teams.

Chen continues to tickle his brain during his spare time by avidly competing in Rubik’s Cube speed solving competitions. He’s the treasurer of the Harvard College Cube Club and manages the finances for the bi-annual Rubik’s Cube tournaments. They draw in what he calls “speedcubers” from all over the New England area.

With a brain filled with so much knowledge, Chen still remains light on his toes as a competitive Ballroom dancer. When it comes to picking his favorite style of ballroom dancing, he says there is a three-way-tie.

“I like the waltz because it feels very classy and flowing. I feel that the Jive is the most energetic ballroom-style dance, so it best matches my level of energy, and I love the Paso Doble because it seems to me the most free-flowing and has the most attitude. It's ballroom dancing—bullfight style!”

For more information on the Amador Valley High School Math Team, visit http://www.avmathteam.org/.