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Dan Henderson, president of the Southern Colorado Chapter of Professional Engineers, which sponsors MathCounts, issued a challenge to the other schools. |
MathCounts contest a winning equation for area youngsters
The students have to answer questions that involve simple math, algebra, geometry and trigonometry.
By AMY MATTHEW
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Nearly 200 "mathletes" brought their "A" games to Colorado State University-Pueblo on Saturday, and a familiar name took home the big prize.
Craver Middle School in Colorado City took the individual and team titles in the 21st regional MathCounts competition. Erika Parks of Craver was named the top competitor for the second consecutive year and the school won for the fourth time in the last five years.
Dan Henderson, president of the Southern Colorado Chapter of Professional Engineers, which sponsors MathCounts, issued a challenge to the other schools.
"Who's going to come and unseat (Craver)?" he said.
One school that might soon be up to the task is McKinley Elementary School in Canon City. The McKinley group was made up of four sixth graders: Kendra Lords, Kaleen Masse, Dillon McConnon and Jon Vodopich. Much to their own surprise, the pre-teens wrangled a third-place finish in the team category, which qualified them for next month's state competition in Denver.
Substitute coach Kim McConnon was filling in Saturday for the team's regular coaches, who couldn't attend. As she was talking about how MathCounts has helped her son, Dillon, his name was announced as one of the top individual finishers. McConnon happily hurried to the front of the Occhiato Ballroom to congratulate him.
"I didn't know I did this good," Dillon said.
"He's gotten more confident in his answers," McConnon said of Dillon. "He's able to speak out now - if he has a wrong answer, it's OK."
She added that Dillon used to carry notebooks with him and perform long division at every opportunity. He even wanted to go to school six days a week so he could do more math.
"It's his passion," she said.
Dillon said math is definitely his favorite school subject - and, yes, he'd still take that extra day of school if it meant more calculating.
MathCounts is open to sixth, seventh and eighth graders. They have to answer questions that involve simple math, algebra, geometry and trigonometry. The top 10 youth compete in the countdown round, similar to "Jeopardy!", where they have 45 seconds to solve various problems.
Many MathCounts teams start practicing months in advance, Henderson said.
"I take my hat off to them," he added.
The competition continues to grow. Just a few years ago, only 12 teams - none from District 60 - took part. Last year there were 19 and this year 22, including eight District 60 schools, Henderson said.
The top 10 individual students were Parks; Brena Adams, Craver; Zach Gonzales, Heaton Middle School; Jean Rikhof, La Junta Middle School; Hannah Romero, Cesar Chavez Academy; Grant Soto, Jefferson Middle School, Rocky Ford; McConnon; Alejandro Preciado, Risley Middle School; Jessica Hesslink, Jefferson; and Tyler Prentiss, Pitts Middle School.
The top four teams were Craver, Salida Middle School, McKinley and Jefferson.
