On my last day at MATHCOUNTS, I was invited to the Indus Center for Academic Excellence (ICAE) in Troy, MI, right outside Detroit. ICAE is a community school, started by Dr. R. P. Khetan 10 years ago when his work with his son and his son's friends (who were outstanding, as their Mandelbrot results showed us directly then) led him to build a school for more students. Now, ICAE owns its own building and teaches 300-400 students on Saturday and Sunday. As people in Michigan can tell you, ICAE dominates the Michigan math scene. More than a third of the top 100 on the MMPC (the main Michigan math contest), for example, have taken classes at ICAE.

I first learned of ICAE when they routinely turned up near the top of the Mandelbrot. They've since been one of the largest customers of AoPS books, perhaps second only to AAST. When talking to parents or educators who wish to build something in their area, I almost always suggest they take a look at ICAE. Its success in developing a large number of strong students is plastered all over its walls as stories of their students' successes are everywhere. ICAE students routinely take 2-3 of the Michigan MATHCOUNTS slots, and one of them made it to the Countdown Round this year.

While at ICAE I talked to the students a little bit about why what they are doing is important, then we worked some invariant problems for a little while. They're an impressive group, and felt much like our San Diego Math Circle - I hope we can replicate their success in future years. Another thing they have in common with the SDMC - all of their instructors are volunteers. I didn't know this until I went there, and after seeing how many classes they offer each weekend (more than a dozen), I'm floored at how much work these instructors, most of whom are parents of children in the program, must do. We have a much less ambitious program in the SDMC, and even with the four AoPS instructors we'll have, plus Chris Wright, a Stanford PhD who has helped out with SDMC since its inception a couple years ago, there's no way we could handle as much as they do.

I think the ICAE program may prove to be unique - I've not heard of anything on its scale anywhere (I have heard of a few similar significantly smaller programs). However, I did talk a great deal with AoPSer Naga, whose son was in the countdown round, about how we might spread programs like this into other communities. More on that later. For now, I'll close noting that those of you looking to donate to a worthy math charity (besides the AoPS Foundation , which supports the USAMTS and the SDMC), should strongly consider donating to ICAE.