[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 101 (Wednesday, June 18, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5749-S5750]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNIZING THE VERMONT ALL STARS

 Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, today, I recognize the Vermont 
All Stars, the Vermont math team that won first place in Division B of 
the American Mathematics League's Regional Competition, held this year 
at Pennsylvania State University. The team was comprised of 15 Vermont 
students, ranging from grades 8 through 12, and seven alternates. The 
countrywide event, of which this was a part, is the Nation's highest 
precollegiate math competition.
  In the individual competition, two Vermonters placed in the top 10. 
Both students achieved perfect scores, which qualified them to advance 
to a final round, which ultimately determined the ranking of the 10 
students who received perfect scores. Following up perfection with an 
even tougher competition, Colin Sandon placed fifth overall, and David 
Rolnick placed tenth. Both Colin and David are high school seniors who 
will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall.
  Deserving of special mention--and special honor--is Mr. Anthony 
Trono, both founder and coach of the team. Tony Trono is a retired math 
teacher who had a long career teaching mathematics at Burlington High 
School.
  Many years ago he began a program entitled the Vermont Talent Search, 
in which a math test is distributed to middle school and high school 
students. This was to be the first step in bringing Vermont students to 
the American Math League competition. The top achievers on the Vermont 
Talent Search tests are chosen for the team that competes in the 
American Mathematics League's competition.
  Not content with working on this, and desiring to share his love of 
mathematics with students all over our

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State, Tony Trono also runs a week-long summer math camp at the 
University of Vermont.
  Because family reasons precluded him from accompanying the team this 
year, as he has done so often before, Barbara Unger chaperoned the team 
to Penn State. Like Tony a retired math teacher, from Middlebury Union 
High School, she said of Tony Trono, ``He has given his life to upper 
level math.'' How true that is!
  Our Nation has excelled in the areas of math, engineering and science 
in large measure because of dedicated teachers such as Tony Trono--and 
Barbara Unger. They serve as role models to future generations of 
teachers, in addition to so ably training generation after generation 
of capable--and as the recent success of the Vermont All Stars 
indicates--superior mathematicians. Our State and our Nation owe a deep 
debt of gratitude to Tony Trono and to the many thousands of dedicated 
math teachers who follow along similar paths by sharing their love of 
mathematics.

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