Students win local math competition
By NewsPress Now
A team of middle school Mathletes® from East Buchanan Middle School won the local MATHCOUNTS competition held Feb. 3 at Missouri Western State University. The top individual was Ember Sparks, also representing East Buchanan.
Members of the winning team are: Ember Sparks, Bailey Gregory, Hailey Rhoad and Annamaria Conard, coached by Tabatha Craft.
The second-place team is from St. Paul Lutheran School and is composed of Marshall Hoffman, Alia Landes, Zachary Zeltwanger and Everett Kaahea, coached by Shawna Macrander.
These top two teams advance to the State Competition to be held on Saturday, March 9 at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. The top four students and the coach of the 1st place team from the State Competition will advance to the MATHCOUNTS National Competition in Washington, D.C. from May 13-16.
Besides the above teams, individual winners advancing to the state competition are: Patrick Holtz and Emma Leslie of St. Francis Xavier in St. Joseph, coached by Paul Modlin and Raiden Caldwell of Maysville Elementary School, coached by Sue Bridgman.
Bailey Gregory of East Buchanan won the Countdown Round, which pitted the top ten competitors against each other in a fast-moving, head-to-head bracket-style tournament.
The local MATHCOUNTS Competition Series is organized and staffed by members of the Northwest Chapter of the Missouri Society of Professional Engineers (MSPE). The event was sponsored by Missouri Western State University, Evergy, WireCo World Group, and Shamrad Metal Fabricators.
In our increasingly technological society, those students who do not begin developing strong problem-solving, logical thinking and analytical abilities in middle school will face an uphill battle later in life if they wish to pursue a medical, scientific, mathematical, engineering or technical career. As a national math enrichment, coaching and competition program designed to improve math skills among U.S. students, MATHCOUNTS prepares students for future career opportunities and success. More than 6 million students across the U.S. have participated in MATHCOUNTS programs.
The National Sponsors of MATHCOUNTS are Raytheon Company, Northrop Grumman Foundation, U.S. Department of Defense, National Society of Professional Engineers, BAE Systems, 3M, Texas Instruments Incorporated and Art of Problem Solving. MATHCOUNTS was founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and CNA Foundation.
Additional information on MATHCOUNTS is available at www.mathcounts.org.
