Again this year, the event that celebrates academic achievement will be presented by the Foundation of the Delaware County Chamber and the Delaware County Intermediate Unit. Dinner sponsor is Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union, which was one of two primary corporate sponsors of the 2005-2006 Delco Hi-Q season.

The 2005-2006 All Delco Hi-Q Team, comprised of a member from each of 21 teams from public, private and parochial schools that participated in Delco Hi-Q, and this year’s Delco Hi-Q Hall of Honor inductees will be announced.

Awards also will be presented to the first, second and third place teams that competed in this year’s exciting championship match. For its third-place finish, Delaware County Christian School’s team will receive $500 for its school, Garnet Valley’s team will receive a second place award of $750 and the Marple Newtown championship team will be awarded $1,000. For finishing in first place, Marple Newtown also won the right to display the new Donna Zerby Trophy at its school for a year.

Highlighting the evening will be a message to students, parents, educators and others from acclaimed guest speaker John Allen Paulos, a professor of mathematics at Temple University who holds a Ph.D. in math from the University of Wisconsin. An author, popular public speaker and monthly columnist for ABCNews.com, as well as a distinguished educator, Paulos is well qualified to speak on scholastic accomplishment.

His many writings include Innumeracy, a New York Times bestseller for 18 weeks, A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper, which was on the readers’ list of Random House Modern Library’s compilation of the 100 best nonfiction books of the century, and the just released A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market, which was on Business Week's bestsellers list.

Paulos has addressed a wide range of audiences, from classrooms to commencement ceremonies, from members of the Smithsonian Institution and Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Club, and from NASA and the National Academy of Science to stock market forums. In addition, he has appeared frequently on radio and television, including the Lehrer News Hour, 20/20, Larry King and David Letterman. He’s been cited by cultural, business and political commentators and has even been one of the answers to a question on “Jeopardy!”

All Hi-Q participants will attend this event free of charge through the generosity of our corporate donors. Additional reservations are available at $30 per person through the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce at 610-565-3677.

John Allen Paulos