Instructor Biographies

Chris is a rising Junior at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, NJ. Since the 4th grade, Chris has excelled in mathematics, especially in Algebra courses. He has competed in many math competitions, including Mathcounts, the AMC 10, the AIME, and the Bergen County Competition.

For extracurriculars, Chris was a member of the Ridge High School Varsity Basketball team as a sophomore, and plays trumpet in his high school Honors Wind Ensemble. In his free time, Chris loves to play football with his friends, watch the Disney XD show Lab Rats, and listen to the best boy band ever, One Direction.

Gordon is a rising Junior at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, NJ. Since the age of 5, Gordon has shown a deep interest in all things STEM. As a middle schooler Gordon participated in the Continental Math League, New Jersey Math League, and AMC 8 math competitions, winning several accolades for his scores.

Outside of the STEM world, Gordon was a finalist in the 2020 MTNA National Piano Competition for piano duet, a member of the Ridge Latin Certamen team (first place in NJ), and a passionate trumpet player. In his spare time, Gordon likes reading books, watching history documentaries, and thinking about life in general.

Eric Zhao attends Ridge High School as a rising junior. Throughout his educational career, his interests have mainly revolved around the field of science; he greatly enjoyed taking Honors Biology and Honors Chemistry at Ridge. In terms of science outside the classroom, Eric has participated in the January Chemistry I League test, bringing Ridge to first place in the state. Additionally, during quarantine, Eric and Allen taught an extensive 4-week chemistry course to over fifteen rising sophomores at Ridge. When Eric isn’t stressing about school, he enjoys playing tennis, eating, and watching shows.

Allen is a rising Junior at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, NJ. Allen has taken Honors Chemistry and has made the New Jersey Chemistry League and helped Ridge win in three monthly competitions. In his free time, Allen enjoys playing basketball and hanging out with his friends.

Darren is a rising Junior at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, NJ. He has made USAPhO. In his free time he enjoys playing League of Legends and watching anime.

Andrew is a rising Junior at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, NJ. He has taken AP Physics 1 at Ridge and has made USAPhO. Additionally, he has participated in the New Jersey Physics League for two years, in which Ridge has done consistently well. Outside of physics, Andrew has experience in competition math and plays tennis in his free time.