James Dick and Stephen Krewson did an awesome job of coaching from 2003 through 2006, and their excellent work inspired many of our current coaches (some of whom have already inspired still younger cohorts of coaches, making James & Stephen "grandparent coaches" already!) Although they were already off at college during the 2006-07 year, they laid the groundwork which contributed to the heegMATHCOUNTS great success in 2007.
James and Stephen, like many of our student coaches, are young "Renaissance men and women," who have demonstrated their amazing gifts with words as well as numbers. James and Stephen are shining examples--they were once MATHCOUNTS mathletes themselves, and have contributed to state-division winning AAMC teams while in high school, but they also have many achievements in the humanities.
During 11th and 12th grade, James spearheaded and built from scratch a homeschool Mock Trial team which qualified for the state finals in both of its first two years of operation. James also participated in the extremely selective Telluride Association Summer Program in the humanities during the summer before 12th grade. James is now a sophomore economics major at Washington and Lee University, where he holds a full merit scholarship. James has been named a Bonner Leader by the Bonner Foundation, and worked in an internship in public service poverty law in rural Appalachia last summer.
Stephen has demonstrated remarkable gifts in creative writing as well as contributing to the success of the award-winning mock trial team. He is now a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has been named a Benjamin Franklin Scholar, a top academic honor for Penn undergraduates. Stephen now writes a weekly column for the Daily Pennsylvanian student newspaper, which you can read here.
Their long list of talents is truly remarkable: their way with words and numbers, public speaking, musical talents, etc. But even more important, their characters are truly sterling. They are extraordinarily kind, generous, modest, and understated. Both young men are shining beacons and examples for others to follow.
And, in an irreverent "blast from the past," I post below a picture of James and Stephen as eighth graders, from their own MATHCOUNTS mathlete days back at the chapter competition in 2002. (The younger members of their team were Drew Besse and Catherine Miller, who also later became coaches.)
