RSS users: This note is to let you know that the recent news story about 2008 Uni alum Alex Zhai winning first place at the International Mathematical Olympiad has been significantly revised and updated. To those who aren't receiving the Gargoyle RSS feed, sign up now! It's easy. Just set up an RSS reader (we recommend Google Reader) and click the RSS icon at the bottom of this page. Copy the RSS address into your reader, and you're in business! The OG comes to you every time we publish a new article or update.

The 2008 Uni High graduate won his second gold medal in two years and led the six-member U.S. team to a third-place finish at the 49th IMO, held this month in Madrid, Spain. Results were announced this weekend. Zhai scored the maximum possible 42 points. Two other competitors, both from China, also scored 42 and tied the Uni alum for first place. The U.S. team won four gold medals and two silver, scoring 190 points. The Americans placed third, their best finish since 2005, when they were second.

The Gargoyle will be on hiatus for summer break until school resumes on Aug. 20. This year's staff would like to thank everyone who visited our site in 2007-08. Here's a reminder of some key dates for the coming school year: Uni High registration (main office), July 7-18; new student orientation (Uni Gym), Aug. 15; Orientation Picnic (Crystal Lake Park), Aug. 17; new parent orientation (South Attic), Aug. 18; school begins, Aug. 20.

Alex Zhai, a 2008 graduate of Uni High, was one of six students chosen to represent the United States at this year's International Mathematical Olympiad. Zhai and his teammates were named to the U.S. team on Saturday, June 14, based on their scores on the USA Mathematical Olympiad exam and the Team Selection Test. The 2008 IMO will be held in Madrid, Spain, from July 10 to 22.

For the week of May 5, the halls of Uni were filled with music and the infectious spirit of people giving back. It was X-Week, Uni's annual showcase of student fundraising activities created as a way of giving back to the community. Check inside to see how well Uni did in raising money for this year's charity, Urbana-Champaign Books to Prisoners.

So it's Thursday night, and all your finals are over. What do you do? How about coming to Uni for one final movie night? It's free, and this time the film co-stars a Uni student: senior Alex Zhai. The movie is "Hard Problems: The Road to the World’s Toughest Math Contest," and it features Alex and the other members of the 2006 U.S. International Math Olympiad Team. You don't need to be a math whiz to enjoy the true story of six high school students as they get ready to compete against their peers from 90 other countries. The movie, which lasts 82 minutes, will be shown in Room 109 beginning at 7 p.m.

The official Prom '08 photographs are now available online. Check inside for the link and more information about an upcoming DVD that will contain high-resolution versions of the photos suitable for printing.

This was the first year Uni students had the option of going to an honor council of their peers if they wanted to challenge accusations of cheating. Did anyone use it? Will it be back next year? Maritza Mestre has the answers.

Senior Micah Berman received three major awards at Tuesday's year-end assembly, including Student of the Year. Read on to find out some of the many students who were honored for their outstanding achievements this year. A complete list of everyone who was recognized at the assembly will be mailed in June along with the graduation issue of the U'n'I newsletter.

Almost all of next year's class officers were announced at today's Student Council meeting. The president and vice president of the rising freshmen remain to be determined due to ballot error. Next year's subfreshman class officers will be elected in the fall. Check inside for the (nearly complete) results of this week's elections.

For the third straight year, the OG is publishing the bios of all candidates for class elections, which will take place Wednesday during English classes. We want to thank Student Council executive president Micah Berman for providing us with the bios and giving us permission to run them. Please note that the OG is running the bios without any editing.

Last week, junior Adam Tiouririne spiced up the race for Student Council executive president by challenging the previously uncontested Isaac Chambers. He won, but how he's resigned. Find out why inside.

For the third straight year, Uni High has been named one of Newsweek’s “public elites” in the magazine’s annual listing of best American high schools. Only 17 schools earned the distinction, down from 19 last year and 21 in 2006. Public elites are those schools that did not make Newsweek’s larger list of 1,300 top public high schools simply because, in the magazine's words, “their students are too good.”

It must be close to the end of the year because students have already elected Student Council executive officers for '08-'09. Check inside for the winners. Class officers for next year will be elected later this week. Look for candidate bios to be published in the OG as soon as all of them are turned in.

[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.