John Berman, WAAS class of 2005, coached the United States IMO team to 1st place in the 65th International Mathematical Olympiad, held this Summer from July 11th to 22nd in Bath, United Kingdom. The team, sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America’s American Mathematics Competition (MAA AMC), also had six high school team members receive medals for their outstanding individual performances. The IMO is the world’s premier high school mathematics competition, attracting the best young mathematicians from around the globe.
As a WAAS student, Mr. Berman won the local Mathcounts competition in 2004 and was 2nd at the state Mathcounts competition in 2005. He credits his WAAS Math Teacher at the time, Ms. Mary Beth Ward, for his introduction to and success in Mathcounts, starting Mr. Berman on the path to national and international levels of math competition.
After WAAS, Mr. Berman went on to become valedictorian at John T. Hoggard High School. He received a BS from MIT in 2013, and a PhD from UVA in 2018. He was a mathematician at UT Austin and UMass Amherst. He was on the USA’s IMO team in 2009, then became deputy leader (coach) in 2015 when the USA won for the first time in 20 years. Mr. Berman lives in Raleigh with his wife and daughter and teaches online math classes to middle and high school students. He looks forward to coaching the US team again at the competition in Australia in 2025.
News Article- USA Earns First Place at 65th International Mathematical Olympiad
