International Math and Science Olympiad

Shenlone Wu, 12, was part of a six-person team from Las Vegas that represented the United States in the 16th annual International Mathematics and Science Olympiad Nov. 26-Dec. 1 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The Las Vegas team competed in mathematics. In addition to a local coach, Hikmet Erdogan from RootSTEM Academy provided training for team members.

Here are the competition results for the Las Vegas team: Chris Bao from Hyde Park Middle School (gold), Shenlone (silver), Parth Joshi from Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas (silver), Vanita Indrakumar from Hyde Park Middle School (bronze), Brandon Lee from The Meadows School (bronze) and Sanjeev Chundu from Hyde Park Middle School (bronze).

The U.S. will host the International Mathematics and Science Olympiad in 2020 in Las Vegas.

“We use that as an indicator to see if they’ll be able to perform well in their classes,” Hack said.

The Wu siblings are “definitely high achieving,” Hack said, and they are ambitious with what they want to accomplish.

As Shenmei and Shenlone walked Dec. 6 between their classes and UNLV’s Student Union Building, their young age was apparent. But one attribute helps Shenlone blend in: He towers in height.

When the siblings started taking classes at UNLV, Shenlone was just 4 feet, 8 inches tall. Now, he’s 5-foot-8, meaning he grew a foot in less than two years. His sister is 5-foot-2.

Shenmei enjoys how UNLV is different from middle school. “I just think it’s a lot more interesting,” she said.

When they’re not in class or studying, the siblings still spend free time with their middle school friends — just not quite as often as they used to.

It’s not too surprising. After all, they’re college students.