On Friday the 10th, a mix of sixteen freshmen and sophomores went to Albion College to compete in a math competition. Concord has been going to this event for three years.
Mr. Buck, a math teacher at Concord shares his thoughts on the event: “All the groups that I talked to, not just Concord, had a great time. We had a lot of fun this year.”
There were four teams with four students on them. The first team was Math Magicians with; Dakota Hamilton, Lucy Otto, Elizabeth Jordon, and Maddox Hutchinson. The second team was Number Ninjas with Cieara Barrett, Julia Stevens, Bella Coppernol, and Avery Arbuckle. The third team was Vector Vanquishers with Haley Stimer, Landen Lynn, Bradie Lehman, and Waylon Mandrelle. The fourth team was Calculator Gators with Connor Stevens, Keaton Smith, Trenton Frazer, and Liam Bauman.
Before the day started, the students could grab breakfast and listen to the speaker before they started the challenges. There were five activities that the students would play. The first event was the solo challenge. Students had 40 minutes to complete 30 questions in different varieties of math categories. The second challenge was Team Theme. Students had to work in their groups to solve a packet that was given to them. The first packet that was given to them was a longer one that lasted 50 minutes. The third challenge was Triple Play where the students were given a smaller packet with three short questions to complete in 15 minutes. After the first three, the students headed down to lunch. The lunch consisted of many choices for the students to choose from. Trenton Frazer shares what he liked most about the day: “The food was the best part.” Out of the many foods to choose from, he got a juicy hamburger and hot fries.
After lunch, the fourth activity was called Topic Exploration. Students were given a math card game. The game was based on one of the packets they did in the Team Theme. When the time was up for the card game, students headed outside to play the annual scavenger hunt. The activity was called Campus Coordinates. Students had to solve math problems to find out their next location. It was a competitive race to see who would be the first to win points that would help them win. Haley Stimer shares what she and her team struggled with and how they overcame it: “On the scavenger hunt there was a question about geometry, and no one was sure about the question. In the end, talked about it and worked it out.”
At the end of the day none of the Concord teams placed. Although they did not place, they still had fun throughout the day. Cieara Barrett shares what she enjoyed most: “It is fun. If you do it with your friends, it is more enjoyable.”
Elizabeth Jordon shares what she liked most about that day; “Getting to hang out with people that I get to hang around with and also using my brain in a productive way.”
Despite not winning, these students represented Concord well and took a risk to try something new. If you didn’t have the chance to attend, keep working on your math skills so that you can be part of next year’s team.
