GMS MATHCOUNTS team takes runner-up in regional competition

Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Top-placing members of the Greencastle Middle School MATHCOUNTS team that finished as runner-up in regional competition at Terre Haute are (from left) coach Michele Villinski, Katie Rose Parsons, Zach Wilkerson, Sam Savage, Lily Spencer and coach Gayle Hansen.

The Greencastle Middle School MATHCOUNTS team, sponsored by L. M. Henderson and Co., competed in the regional competition of the MATHCOUNTS Contest on Feb. 11 at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute.

Team members are Katie Rose Parsons, Zach Wilkerson, Sam Savage, Lily Spencer and coaches Gayle Hansen and Michele Villinski.

The Greencastle Middle School team placed second at the regional competition behind Honey Creek Middle School of Terre Haute. The top two teams in each region qualify for state competition.

Individually for GMS, Zach Wilkerson placed eighth, Sam Savage was 13th, Katie Rose Parsons finished 15th and Lily Spencer took 16th.

Other GMS students who participated in MATHCOUNTS were Sean Ramey, Susanna Howard, Megan Friars and Ben Gellman.

Each student received a trophy for the GMS team being second and a trophy for finishing in the top 24 as an individual. GMS students have been preparing for competition since October and will now move on to the state MATHCOUNTS contest to be conducted in March.

Regional competition involved more than 100 students from seven middle schools in Putnam and Vigo counties.

Each student participated in three rounds of written competition: Sprint, testing quickness to solve 30 problems in 40 minutes without the aid of a calculator; Target, testing problem-solving skills (8 problems in 24 minutes using a calculator); and Team, testing teamwork abilities to solve 10 problems in 20 minutes using a calculator.

Then, the top 24 students squared off in a game show-type Countdown Round, where quick problem-solving skills were exhibited on stage in front of everyone.

Middle school students, without using a calculator, race to answer questions such as, "In Silverville, the price of a piece of pure silver is directly proportional to its weight. If a two-inch cube (2 x 2 x 2) of pure silver weighs 3.5 pounds and is worth $480, how many dollars would a five-inch cube (5 x 5 x 5) be worth in Silverville? (Answer: $7,500).

Approximately 100,000 students from more than 6,000 schools participate nationally in the MATHCOUNTS competition at the school level.

The regional competition was organized by Rose-Hulman and the Francis Vigo chapter of the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers (ISPE).

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  • Way to go!!!!

    -- Posted by localmom44 on Wed, Feb 15, 2012, at 12:16 PM
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