Exclusive Interview with Chad Qian, 2012 Mathcounts National Champion

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On May 11th, Chad Qian participated in the Mathcounts Nationals Round, and from 224 of the best students around the country, Chad was proclaimed as the 2012 Mathcounts National Champion! Chad Qian is an eighth grader at Sycamore School, Indianapolis, Indiana. I had an opportunity to interview not only him, but also his mom, Mrs. Qian, and his math coach, Mr. Tormoehlen. I wanted to do this interview because I felt like many people knew Chad won Mathcounts, but most people didn’t know how much effort and work his mom, his coach, and he himself have put into math competitions.
I’ve been Chad’s classmate for a school year now, and I feel like I’ve really gotten to know Chad well. What impresses me most about Chad is that he is not only good at math, but he is also amazing at every other subject. In this interview with Chad, readers will learn a little more about Chad’s life and his future.
AMY: What are your favorite subjects besides math? What do you like about them?
CHAD: Besides math, I also like science and history. I like science because it’s related to math and leads to new discoveries. History relates to the world, and my history teacher makes it fun.
AMY: What is your favorite part about math? Is there anything you dislike about it?
CHAD: My favorite subject is geometry! I like solving new problems and learning new things. The only thing I might dislike a little is proofs, but for the most part, I like them too.
AMY: I’m sure there are girls out there that have a celebrity crush on you. In your future years, what type of girl would you be interested in? Does she have to be good at math?
CHAD: She doesn’t necessarily have to be good at math. She has to be smart, nice, and sincere. She must also be a human.
AMY: Before winning Mathcounts, did you ever think about winning? How do you think Mathcounts will benefit you in the future? Since you have now “graduated” from Mathcounts, what other competitions will you be involved in?
CHAD: I thought a little about winning, but I didn’t really think I could win, since there are so many smart people out there. A big part of Mathcounts is also luck. I guess in the future, people will recognize my name from Mathcounts. Mathcounts was the competition that started my math competition career, so I’ve also benefitted from Mathcounts in that way. In the future, I will be participating in AMC, USAMTS, Mandelbrot, ARML, and many other math competitions.
AMY: What would you like to be when you grow up?
CHAD: I’d like to get into math, science, or medicine. I recently career shadowed a neurosurgeon. That was a pretty cool experience.
AMY: Who has influenced you the most during your math career?
CHAD: Many people have influenced me. I would like to thank my parents, Mr. Tormoehlen, Mr. Fischer, Dr. Chi, Dr. Ji, Kumon, and many others. They have helped me and taught me math. They taught me to persevere. They also gave me a lot of practice and encouragement.

Mrs. Qian is Chad’s mom. Mrs. Qian is such a great person to talk to, and after talking to her, I felt like she had an endless amount of knowledge about educating a child. She has put so much time and effort into educating Chad, and all of her hard work has definitely paid off!
AMY: What is one of your most memorable memories with Chad on his journey from his childhood until now?
MRS. QIAN: I have so many memorable memories, but I think the most memorable one would be when Chad took Kumon. He started when he was five years old, and he ended in fifth grade. He finished all of the levels during that time. What really surprised me is that he really understood the algebra II, pre-calculus, and calculus material. Keep in mind, this is when he was in third, fourth, and fifth grade, so I was really impressed. Kumon made me realize Chad’s talent in math. Before, I’d never really realized it. He also never reduced the number of Kumon pages or repeated a level. He had a really fast learning speed. I’d teach him, and after teaching him once, he would understand. He never complained about doing all the Kumon worksheets either. He never asked to quit and was very self-motivated to finish all the levels of Kumon.
AMY: Which competition or event in Chad’s life do you think was the most difficult?
MRS. QIAN: I was very nervous for Chad at the Indiana State Mathcounts last year. Everyone was hoping Chad could take first, and so did I. The pressure on him was huge. At state that year, I couldn’t eat and I couldn’t stay still. I bought my lunch, but I gave it to my husband to eat. When Chad came out of the testing room, he told me he did “okay.” That made me even more nervous. It was mostly because of all the pressure on Chad that day, with everyone expecting him to get first. He did end up getting first, and he had a score of 45[out of 46 points], so his score was very good. One thing about Chad that impressed me is his ability to keep calm. In this year’s countdown, even when he was behind 2-0, he was able to get the next three questions right. Most other kids, I think, would have already lost hope and given up.
AMY: If you could go back 14 years, when Chad was just born, would you change anything? Would you educate him differently in any way?
MRS. QIAN: I don’t think I would have made any big changes to the way I educated him. From when he was an infant to now, I’ve always paid a lot of attention to his education. As a kid, he started talking late. He learned how to talk at age three. A lot of people had then told me, “Oh, kids who start talking late are geniuses!” I didn’t really believe that. To try to get Chad to start talking, I started reading books to him. I read him picture books, showed him maps of the world, and taught him the states of the United States.
AMY: What advice would you give younger parents would want their child to be like Chad one day?
MRS. QIAN: I think the most important thing is to start educating the child early. Starting early is always important, in order to build a strong foundation. Starting at age five is already late. The parents’ contribution and effort to educate the child is part of it, but even larger is the child’s self-motivation. I majored in Pediatrics in college, so I take children’s education and wellness very seriously. I think it is the parents’ duty to push their child to their potential and find the child’s interests. After the child has grown up, then the parents must make sure the child is in a good environment. That means parents need to find a good school. That’s why I sent Chad to Sycamore School. Teachers and students influence Chad a lot, and I wanted to make sure Chad was in an environment that would encourage Chad to learn more and work hard. The three important things to a good education of a child would be their education as a small child, their potential, and the environment they are put into. These three things, when done right, will lead to success.

Mr. Tormoehlen is Chad’s Mathcounts coach at Sycamore School. One little known fact about him is that he participated in National Mathcounts with the Indiana team as a kid! He is a wonderful math coach, and in this interview, he provided me with a lot of information about Chad and math.
AMY: Did you expect Chad to become the national champion?
MR. TORMOEHLEN: We expected Chad to be in the Top 12, but there’s a lot of luck involved with being national champion, so no, I didn’t expect him to win, because all of the students are so good, that it’s very difficult. But I knew he had a really good chance of winning, that’s why when we practiced, we practiced as if he had a chance at becoming the national champion. So I wasn’t surprised, but I was surprised, all at the same time.
AMY: Why did you think Chad was qualified to be the national champion?
MR. TORMOEHLEN: I think Chad was qualified to be the national champion because of all his previous accomplishments. He had done well in many other competitions. He had the fourth highest middle school AIME score, and he was in the National Mathcounts Top 12 last year. From a personality standpoint, Chad’s focus and drive, since he was a fifth grader, is what separates him from everyone else. His focus he had as a fifth grader is what I usually see in eighth graders. It takes maturity to get to the point of being really focused. What made a difference is that he had that focus and drive for so long.
AMY: How do you encourage young students to become motivated to learn math?
MR. TORMOEHLEN: Lots of ways. We try to make it fun. We give lots of opportunities for students in a lot of different avenues. One of the things I try to pay attention to is to give younger students math competitions that they will do well in. I do morning math, in which students will come early to school two days a week to participate in math competitions. I started morning math because we wanted contests that students could have success in at an early age. The hard part of Mathcounts is that a fifth grader can feel pretty beat-up after doing some Mathcounts tests. So at Sycamore, we participate in CML, SIGMA, MOEMS, and some other contests besides Mathcounts. I try to find material that is challenging, yet material that students will find success in. I think something I learned most from Mr. Fischer is his passion for math and learning, so I always try to be excited about the math myself and try to show the students that I’m still learning too.
AMY: Why is math important?
MR. TORMOEHLEN: Problem solving is extremely important. Anything you do in life revolves around problem solving. There’s always something that you need to figure out, and you have to find the answer to that question. Logical thinking is also important. Being able to logic your way through scenarios whether it is relationship scenarios with people, how to get a job, or how to apply to colleges, logic plays a big role in that. For me, math and school is the best way to teach problem solving and logic skills. It’s true that most students will not need to solve equations in their career. They’re not going to have a system of equations sitting in front of them and they won’t be asked to solve it. But the logical process of what it takes to solve an equation, and being able to work within a framework of rules and to follow those rules to a conclusion is something that everybody does. That’s why I think math competitions are important, because they teach problem solving and logic skills even better than classroom math.
AMY: I know there has been a new addition to your family recently: a new son! Do you plan on training your son math in the future, so that one day, he may become the next Chad?
MR. TORMOEHLEN: I would never have the expectation that he could be the next Chad, because I wouldn’t want to put that on him. But I will certainly, from an early age, try to teach my son a love of math. I will try to teach him to think certain ways. My start in math came from my dad, and I’m sure I’ll do a lot of the same things he did. We’ll talk about math a lot in the family. We’ll talk about math while driving, instead of listening to music. We’ll talk about any problem involved around whatever situation we’re dealing in. I’ve noticed that some of my friends who have kids don’t think about doing that. They’ll try to teach their kids to count, but from there on, they expect their school to teach their child everything else, which I don’t necessarily agree with.

Thank you for reading! From this interview, it is easy to tell how much hard work Mrs. Qian, Mr. Tormoehlen, and Chad himself have put in in order for Chad to become national champion. I wish Chad the best in his future years in math competitions! I’d like to thank Chad, Mrs. Qian, and Mr. Tormoehlen for giving up time from their busy lives to schedule an interview with me and for being so flexible. There is also a version of this interview translated into Chinese.
Have any questions or comments about this interview? Contact the junior editors at junioreditors.aatoday@gmail.com!