(If you’re short on time just want final rankings, scroll to the bottom of this post)

What can bring 1,300 students together on a sunny Saturday in April?  You guessed it – a math competition in Blaine, Washington!  And 31 of those 1,300 students were from our humble Riverview School District (Quick Math: What percentage of the students at the competition were from Riverview?), there to compete with public and private schools alike, do math and, most of all have fun. 

Our work began not on the day of the competition but long before.  In October, our math savy competitors came together and began to practice, coming in for recess, practicing math competition problems in addtion to their regular math homework and attending optional bi-weekly Saturday practices with parent volunteers Rick Greenfield, Jeremy Robkin and Andrew Walker.  By the  day of the competition, they were nervous but mathematically prepared. 

The competition began with a gathering of math competitiors and their supporting coaches and families in the Blaine High School gym.  The sound in the room was outstanding, louder than a basketball jambouree, but instead of basketballs, they weilded calculators and number 2 pencils.  As you can hear in this video (before-the-competition-0809_0001), they waited with a heady mix of excitement and nerves for the math to begin, though as always, they’re still kids with a camera.  (I do apologize for the predominance of Isler class students, next year, we’ll try to get a more even balance.)

The competition consists of six short tests. The first is completed invidually and counts toward an individual award handed out to the top 15 mathematicians at the competition.  The second test is a mental math test in which the competitors have one minute to answer questions like “What is the product of the first 4 prime numbers?” and “What is the perimeter of a regular decagon with a side length of 9?” (What’s your answer?).  For the final four tests, teams work together to solve problems in four different areas: algebra, geometry, probability & statistics and a section called potpourri consisting of a medley of math topics.  As you can see in this video clip (during-the-competition-0809), the competition was strenuous but they were feeling confident about their work.

Overall, we had a fabulous day.  The entire event wrapped up with an awards ceremony that held a thrilling moment for our small district – a 5th grade 14th place trophy!  Please read on for the complete results. 

THE COMPETITORS WERE:

From CV: Chris Dalton, Daniel Gutmann, Gavin Rakus, Ryan Tracy, Isabella Grant, Rachel Ann Perry, Nicholas Buckley, Connor Barrett, Kathleen Griffin, Jade Fisher, Sydney Seese, Ben Lemery.

From CE: Bryan McClintic, Corey Chandler, Vaibhav Vijay, Christian Aksama, Coulson Darrington, Hannah Nesbit, Wesley Trader, Nathan Hunt, Cameron Hammontree, Thomas Fischer, Jake Fletcher.

From TMS: Caitlin Gard, Mitchell Frimodt, Garrett Mueller, Morgan Walker, Kevin Robkin, Evan Atwater, Josh Zimmerman, Carson Wilk.

RIVERVIEW SCHOOL DISTRICT RESULTS:

Carnation Team 1 = 14th place, with 134.5 points

Carnation Team 2 = 46th place, with 92.5 points

Cherry Valley Team 1 = 67th place, with 69.5 points (Note that the Cherry Valley teams did not begin practicing until late January of this year…imagine if they’d started in September!)

Cherry Valley Team 2 = 72nd place, with 60 points

Carnation Team 3 = 79th place with 52.5 points (This team was made up of three 4th graders and one 5th grader, but the competed at the 5th grade level!)

Cherry Valley Team 3 = 92nd place with 34 points

Tolt MS 6th grade team = 25th place with 113 points

Tolt MS 7th grade team  = 14th place with 125 points

We are incredibly proud of our math competitors!