Crowds cheer and awe at athletes who go beyond the norm for victory. But what about those whose competition have less glitz?
A lot of people can throw a football, but can they solve a complex algebraic equation without a calculator? How about 30 of them while being timed?
Sound like homework? Actually, for some students, solving math problems is a fun way to compete.
Howard Andress, math and drama teacher at Sashabaw Middle School, invited students from SMS and Clarkston Junior High School to compete against students from two visiting schools ? Grand Blanc Middle School and Eagle Creek Academy ? in the annual ‘SMS Invitational? on Jan. 30.
Andress said he designed the invitational to run in a similar fashion to those run by MathCounts, the national math competition program that pits teams of students against one another.
Teams of four students worked in rounds of problem solving, minus calculators, in timed events. Volunteers were on hand to keep score and time the events.
Overall, SMS had 36 students participating in the invitational, while CJHS sent 18.
Andress has taught in Clarkston for nine years, and hosted a math invitational for the last five.
‘One reason I do it is… when you compete you can only have four official kids, and I can take four alternatives too. So only eight kids get to go, and this way… it gets them familiar with the format… gives them a chance to compete. They also meet kids from other schools,? said Andress. ‘So it’s a good event, kids are surprisingly very geeked about it.?
In the end, a team from CJHS came out on top. In a second game of one-on-one competition between the 10 highest ranking players, CJHS student Katie Chasins was the victor.
The invitational was not part of official MathCounts competition, but marked the beginning of the competition calendar for Clarkston students and helped Andress select his team.
The four highest ranking students from both Clarkston schools moved on to compete in the 29th Annual Mathematics Invitational on Feb. 5 hosted by Detroit Country Day. Clarkston was one of 30 schools competing, and Andress said the teams did well. Next, team members are preparing for the MathCounts Regional competition on Feb. 11. From there, the competition moves to the state and national levels.
‘It’s very, very competitive and very, very tough. We do well, we don’t do extraordinarily well. My teams have always finished in the top 10,? Andress said. ‘All told, I’m proud of my kids.?