Post by Charity on Feb 24, 2004 21:10:01 GMT -5
Home-school team grabs math crown
By Venita Jenkins
Staff writer
Before sending his team out to compete in the 21st annual MATHCOUNTS competition Saturday, Rick Hamilton conducted a last-minute check.
Staff photo by Jason Arthurs
Srikar Bongu of Fayetteville Academy raises his hand to answer a question during the championship round of Saturday’s MATHCOUNTS tournament.
"Everyone has a calculator?" asked Hamilton, a social studies teacher at Rohanen Junior High School in Rockingham. "OK, let's go."
More than 200 sixth- through eighth-graders from 33 schools in the Cape Fear region competed at R. Max Abbott Middle School.
Students take a series of tests to qualify for the state competition March 27 in Durham. The top five teams and individuals advance to the state competition. Winners there will represent North Carolina in the national contest.
In one test, students answer 30 questions in 40 minutes without calculators. The questions include word problems, consumer math and physical properties.
Bradley Spain, a coordinator for the local MATHCOUNTS, said the competition transcends math. It's about life, he said.
"Math is incorporated into everything we do," he said. "The students are learning to take math beyond arithmetic and algebra and make it seem like a language."
"The competition raises awareness of math and how math is really the fundamental language of how the world works," he said.
This is Hamilton's second year coaching the Rohanen team. Thirteen students volunteered for the team, but Hamilton could only select eight, he said.
"They were very enthusiastic about doing it," he said. "This competition really enhances their math skills."
Tiffany Anderson scored well in math, according to the end-of-grade tests. So Anderson, an eighth-grader at Rohanen, said she wanted to build her skills by participating in MATHCOUNTS. This is her first year.
"Since I am better at math, I thought I would stick with it," she said.
Several home-school groups participated in Saturday's competition.
The Homes Offering Meaningful Education team in Fayetteville took team honors, and four of its students took the top four individual honors.
Top scorer
Katie Rettig, a seventh-grader on the HOME team, finished first. She said she was nervous when she walked into the cafeteria at R. Max Abbott to take the first round of tests. This also is her first year in MATHCOUNTS.
"The questions were a lot easier than I thought ... ," she said. "I felt a lot better afterwards."
Mary Sund coaches the HOME team, which is making its fourth trip to the state competition.
"I enjoy seeing the kids get this," she said. "This is about life math, not curriculum math."
Sund's team practices at least three hours on Saturdays leading up to the competition. "The students started looking at math differently," she said. "These middle school students are learning to love math early. This is fun math, not the cut and dry stuff."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Counting winners
The winners of the 21st annual MATHCOUNTS competition Saturday will advance to the state competition March 27 in Durham. They are:
Top five team winners
Homes Offer Meaningful Education in Fayetteville
Western Harnett Middle School
West Lee Middle School
Seventy-First Middle School
O'Neal School in Southern Pines
Individual winners
Katie Rettig – HOME
Kira Sund -- HOME
Steven Smith – HOME
Marc Loffert – HOME
Beau Luck – Seventy-First Middle School
Top five winners not on a team:
Heather Collins
Joseph Nedrow
Luke Arno
Kishan Patel
Will Eastman
Most improved school
The Robeson County Home School Group.
Best new team
Lumberton Junior High School.
Some sample questions:
Q: On Sept. 18, audiences had a chance to meet the newest 16 cast members of "Survivor." Their names and ages were: Tijuana, 27; Nicole, 25; Darrah, 22; Lillian, 51; Ryan, 31; Andrew, 40; Ryan, 23; Osten, 27; Rupert, 39; Shawn, 28; Jon, 29; Sandra, 29, Trish, 42; Christa, 24; Burton, 31; and Michelle, 22. An article on Yahoo! News said the "average age of the castaways is at least two years younger than those who were on Survivor: Amazon. What was the least possible average age of the castaways on Survivor: Amazon? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest thousandth?
A: 32.625 years old
Q: From the same data, what is the median, mode and range of these 16 ages?
A: The two values closest to the middle are 28 and 29. Therefore, the median is 28.5. There are four modes: 22, 27, 29 and 31.
Staff writer Venita Jenkins can be reached at jenkinsv@fayettevillenc.com or (910) 738-9158.
By Venita Jenkins
Staff writer
Before sending his team out to compete in the 21st annual MATHCOUNTS competition Saturday, Rick Hamilton conducted a last-minute check.
Staff photo by Jason Arthurs
Srikar Bongu of Fayetteville Academy raises his hand to answer a question during the championship round of Saturday’s MATHCOUNTS tournament.
"Everyone has a calculator?" asked Hamilton, a social studies teacher at Rohanen Junior High School in Rockingham. "OK, let's go."
More than 200 sixth- through eighth-graders from 33 schools in the Cape Fear region competed at R. Max Abbott Middle School.
Students take a series of tests to qualify for the state competition March 27 in Durham. The top five teams and individuals advance to the state competition. Winners there will represent North Carolina in the national contest.
In one test, students answer 30 questions in 40 minutes without calculators. The questions include word problems, consumer math and physical properties.
Bradley Spain, a coordinator for the local MATHCOUNTS, said the competition transcends math. It's about life, he said.
"Math is incorporated into everything we do," he said. "The students are learning to take math beyond arithmetic and algebra and make it seem like a language."
"The competition raises awareness of math and how math is really the fundamental language of how the world works," he said.
This is Hamilton's second year coaching the Rohanen team. Thirteen students volunteered for the team, but Hamilton could only select eight, he said.
"They were very enthusiastic about doing it," he said. "This competition really enhances their math skills."
Tiffany Anderson scored well in math, according to the end-of-grade tests. So Anderson, an eighth-grader at Rohanen, said she wanted to build her skills by participating in MATHCOUNTS. This is her first year.
"Since I am better at math, I thought I would stick with it," she said.
Several home-school groups participated in Saturday's competition.
The Homes Offering Meaningful Education team in Fayetteville took team honors, and four of its students took the top four individual honors.
Top scorer
Katie Rettig, a seventh-grader on the HOME team, finished first. She said she was nervous when she walked into the cafeteria at R. Max Abbott to take the first round of tests. This also is her first year in MATHCOUNTS.
"The questions were a lot easier than I thought ... ," she said. "I felt a lot better afterwards."
Mary Sund coaches the HOME team, which is making its fourth trip to the state competition.
"I enjoy seeing the kids get this," she said. "This is about life math, not curriculum math."
Sund's team practices at least three hours on Saturdays leading up to the competition. "The students started looking at math differently," she said. "These middle school students are learning to love math early. This is fun math, not the cut and dry stuff."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Counting winners
The winners of the 21st annual MATHCOUNTS competition Saturday will advance to the state competition March 27 in Durham. They are:
Top five team winners
Homes Offer Meaningful Education in Fayetteville
Western Harnett Middle School
West Lee Middle School
Seventy-First Middle School
O'Neal School in Southern Pines
Individual winners
Katie Rettig – HOME
Kira Sund -- HOME
Steven Smith – HOME
Marc Loffert – HOME
Beau Luck – Seventy-First Middle School
Top five winners not on a team:
Heather Collins
Joseph Nedrow
Luke Arno
Kishan Patel
Will Eastman
Most improved school
The Robeson County Home School Group.
Best new team
Lumberton Junior High School.
Some sample questions:
Q: On Sept. 18, audiences had a chance to meet the newest 16 cast members of "Survivor." Their names and ages were: Tijuana, 27; Nicole, 25; Darrah, 22; Lillian, 51; Ryan, 31; Andrew, 40; Ryan, 23; Osten, 27; Rupert, 39; Shawn, 28; Jon, 29; Sandra, 29, Trish, 42; Christa, 24; Burton, 31; and Michelle, 22. An article on Yahoo! News said the "average age of the castaways is at least two years younger than those who were on Survivor: Amazon. What was the least possible average age of the castaways on Survivor: Amazon? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest thousandth?
A: 32.625 years old
Q: From the same data, what is the median, mode and range of these 16 ages?
A: The two values closest to the middle are 28 and 29. Therefore, the median is 28.5. There are four modes: 22, 27, 29 and 31.
Staff writer Venita Jenkins can be reached at jenkinsv@fayettevillenc.com or (910) 738-9158.