About 30 fourth and
fifth grade students from High Peaks and BCSIS Elementary Schools participated
in the national Math Olympiad program this school year. This program was taught
by volunteers Tom Woods and Debbie Feyh. The Math Olympiad program provides a broad exposure to creative problem
solving with five contests spread out over the year. Each contest includes five very challenging
problems, so a student often only gets 1 or 2 problems correct. The
test results from each contest are sent to the national Math Olympiad's office,
where the individual student scores and the team score (sum of the top 10
scores) are tracked. Considering that this year was the first time any of these
students participated in Math
Olympiads, the
team scored very well with 121 points. The final meeting for
Math Olympiads this school year was held on Friday May 18 as an award ceremony. Each student received a certificate
from the national Math Olympiad office, plus there were additional awards for several
outstanding performances . The
students that scored above the national 50% level received a Math Olympiads
badge; these students were Matthew Cawley, Scott, Martinis, Taylor Stein, Hannah
Hausman, Allie Johnson, Robert Ranney, Trevor Ranney, Erika Yamasaki, Caleb
Bostic, Leonid Vaisberg, and Ryan Schmitz. Of these students, Matthew Cawley and Scott Martinis also
scored above the national 20% level, and they achieved a silver Math Olympiad
pin. The three students with the
highest scores, Matthew Cawley, Scott Martinis, and Taylor Stein, received a
Math Olympiad trophy. Congratulations
to all of the participants for an outstanding year !
