the experimental extemp lab

At EXL, one of our core principles is that we do not take credit for our students’ achievements; we don’t “make champions” — no camp does! — we teach skills and knowledge as best we can, hoping to enable the students to make themselves into champions.  Many more do that than can win tournaments.

However, we can’t help but express pride and congratulations for our alumni performances at Nationals and throughout this school year.  Big smiles and congratulations to Danny Blackman of Needham who placed 2nd in the Senate, Ben Tyler of Belen Jesuit who was the presiding officer and placed 8th in the Senate, Nathaniel Donohue of Durham Academy who was a Quarterfinalist in USX, Max Solomon of University School (FL) who was an octafinalist in IX and a semifinalist in Impromptu,  Audrey Denis of Berkeley Carroll who was an octofinalist in IX (as well as placing 5th at NCFL Nationals), and qualifiers Zohaib Chida of Scarsdale, Rustin Finkler of Trinity Prep, Jacob Levitt of Walt Whitman, Spencer Scheaff of Dowling Catholic, Gautham Varadajan of Ridge, Nate Yeo of Newton South.  We’re so happy for you all, and also glad we got to see you this past week in Birmingham.  Rock on!

I’ve just updated the page for accepted students with the 2009 EXL information.   Also, please be sure to fill out the health and travel forms if you haven’t already.

Apply online now to EXL ‘09!

The dates for the 2009 EXL are July 18th - August 1st in Boston.

This article appeared in the May 2007 Rostrum.

Waves of the future come and go; sometimes they become the annoyances of the present, and sometimes they become the “What where they thinking?” of the past. Computers have always fascinated people as all three: as thinking machines, they have the kind of potential we imagine ourselves to have. As bug ridden crashing beasts of frustration, they make life more interesting at the worst possible moments: “Oh god, the computer just deleted Round 4 of Varsity LD!”. And as the center of investment speculation, they certainly are good at creating one economic bubble after another, as business people forget that economies rely on profit, not buzzwords.

Read the rest of ‘Computers in Extemp’ »