[AUDIO included] For the third straight year, Alex Zhai is one of the top 12 scorers on the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad exam. The USAMO is the next-to-last step in the process of selecting the six U.S. team members for the International Math Olympiad, "the world's toughest math contest." The 12 USAMO winners will take a final test June 7 and 8 to determine who makes the six-member U.S. team that will compete in the 49th IMO, scheduled for July 10 to 22 in Madrid, Spain.

[AUDIO included] Experience working with an independent and innovative faculty is considered the most important quality in a new director/principal of Uni High, according to a survey that more than 500 members of the Uni community took earlier this year. On April 23, the Parent-Faculty Organization held its Spring General Meeting, at which Director/Principal Steve Epperson interpreted the results of the online survey. Check inside for the highlights.

[AUDIO included] Building renovations, security improvements, even higher faculty salaries: These are some of the changes likely to result from Uni's postponement of its search for a new director/principal. Alex Zhai spoke to Associate Provost Keith Marshall at the April 23 PFO Spring General Meeting about these topics and came back with this update.

This year, rather than going to the Wildlife Prairie State Park as many previous subfreshmen have, the Class of 2012 will head to the Chicago Field Museum. It will be the second year in a row that subfreshmen have gone to the museum. Read on for more about the field trip.

Thirty-five comedy sketches: That's what you'll have to feast on if you go to Big Show '08 this weekend, and we know you will! Rachel Skoza gets the lowdown from directors Anna Cangellaris and Eunice How. Check inside for all the details, including a list of skits to be performed. All the money raised from ticket sales will go toward this year's X-Week charity, UC Books to Prisoners. Bring paperback dictionaries (any language, please!!), and you'll get a $2 discount!

The end of the school year must be getting close, because the awards are starting to pour in. The latest honors come from the Champaign-Urbana Noon Kiwanis Club, which will recognize outstanding seniors from local high schools — including four from Uni — at a luncheon later this month.

Usually only two students represent each area high school in WCIA's annual "Best of Class" series of one-minute TV spots. But for the second year, the station has invited schools to submit the names of all students who have the highest GPA in their class. In Uni's case, that means 18 seniors will be appearing on WCIA during the upcoming graduation season.

Sixty-four students, 32 colleges. Here's where you'll find the Class of 2008 next year. As usual, the most popular destination is right here at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with 24 seniors choosing the U of I. The next most popular school is Grinnell College, with four seniors heading to the Iowa school. Four seniors will attend an Ivy League college.

The first-ever X-Week dance-off will get things rolling Monday during lunch for six days of fundraising. This year's events will benefit the Urbana-Champaign Books to Prisoners program. All the old favorites will be back: water balloon tosses, senior auction, and, of course, Big Show. But this year there will also be a talent show and an opportunity for hands-on volunteer activities.

The days of Uni being an open building are numbered. Doors will be locked and a proxy-card system will be installed if everything goes according to plan for next year. Read on for more about the security-inspired changes coming our way.

Senior Aliisa Rantanen and junior Lor Sligar have won first and second prize, respectively, in the annual art contest sponsored by the Central Illinois Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters. Check inside to see their winning entries.

The Uni student organization United for Uganda began a personal sacrifice campaign in March to raise money for the grassroots organization Come Let's Dance. The campaign ends on Friday, but people can still donate to the cause. Check inside for details — plus watch video highlights of UFU's March 7 hip-hop benefit show.

The list of senior Alex Zhai's accomplishments seems to grow daily: newly selected member of the US. Physics Team, two-time Math Olympian, etc. Now you can add "movie star" to that list. Well, sort of. Alex is one of six students featured in a new documentary titled "Hard Problems," which chronicles the 2006 U.S. IMO Team as it prepared for and competed in the 47th International Mathematical Olympiad.

[AUDIO included] The talented Alex Zhai adds the title of U.S. Physics Team member to his already long list of impressive academic accomplishments. Zhai will attend a training camp at the University of Maryland this May with the other 23 members of the team in hopes of becoming one of the five members of the U.S. Traveling Team, which will compete this July in the 39th International Physics Olympiad, to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency has named juniors Rob Diehl and Brian Wang two of the 14 State Historians of the Year for their published work in Illinois History: A Magazine for Young People. The student historians will be honored at the All Illinois History Exposition, to be held May 8 at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield.