After a Green Monday, BC Calculus students were finally let out of the class at 3:00 p.m.; among them, a young face stood out.

“He is arguably the strongest high school math student I have taught in my 15-year career,” said Joshua Seamon, the BC Calculus teacher “This is particularly notable given that he is a 9th grader.” Who Seamon was referring to with this remark was Steven Wang.

Wang, from Ningbo, China, is the only 9th grader enrolled in Williston’s AP Calculus BC course. Starting from the first week of the year, Wang has been amazing his fellow classmates and his teacher. Going into the third trimester, he has become everyone’s go-to person.

“There are smart people, and there are really smart people,” said senior Eni Ikuku. “Steven is neither. It was a privilege to have class with a genius.”

Steven won 3rd place at Yale Math Competition on April 2, even though it was his first time participating in the competition. His competitors included seniors and post-graduates from many other New England schools. Wang also joined Williston’s math team and took part in several math competitions, bringing home amazing records. In March, Wang scored in the top 5% nationally on the AMC12 math competition, the only Williston student qualified for the prestigious American Invitational Mathematics Examination. After another round, Wang successfully made it into the top 500 math students in America, competing in the USA Mathematical Olympiad.

As Wang’s current teacher and the Advisor of the Math Team, Seamon holds Steven in the highest regard. “Steven is a creative, articulate, tenacious, and friendly student. He has enormous ability but always remains humble.” Seamon continued: “He particularly enjoys sharing his passion for math during class and during math team competitions.”

Wang’s interests go beyond mathematics. He is currently taking six classes, including English, BC Calculus, French 1, Honors Chemistry, World Civilization, and Renewable Energy. On May 1, Wang participated in the Chemistry AP Exam after studying the AP materials on his own.

“I think learning is fun,” Steven said. “It is always meaningful to learn something new and different.” He is particularly interested in reading astronomy books and a variety of fiction. Other than academics, Wang is also a part of the Model UN team, JV tennis team, the Squash team, and a guitarist.

Wang enjoys a variety of card games and board games, and is, not surprisingly, a strong player. At the Asian Willy World, he and his friends introduced a complicated Chinese board game called Three Kingdom Kill. It is a popular card game based on the historical figures from China’s Three Kingdom Era.

Jack Long ’20 is one of Wang’s closet friends. He said, “Wang is just a very logical person. He always responds quickly, yet is still thoughtful. Even when he is watching me play video games, he is able to make quick and precise judgments.”

“He is also a person who really values friendships,” Jack added. “Although he has been in America for almost a year now, he is still very close with his middle school friends. He puts a lot of value on their relationships.”