Antilles wins St. Thomas MathCounts
Published: February 22, 2013
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ST. THOMAS - The problems the 42 "mathletes" who competed for the top 10 spots in the St. Thomas-St. John District MathCounts competition Thursday would be hard for many adults to solve.
Harder still would be to quantify the intensity of the pupils who went through three rounds of tests at the University of the Virgin Islands Administration and Conference Center.
When the calculating was finished, Antilles School came out on top, placing first among the five teams. V.I. Montessori School and International Academy ranked second, and All Saints School ranked third.
Students tackled 48 problems drawn from algebra, statistics, probability and geometry during three rounds of competition with furrowed brows and scarcely a sound other than the punching of calculator buttons.
The top four students from the territorial competition will represent the Virgin Islands in the national MathCounts competition in Washington, D.C. on May 10.
The top 10 students had a chance to demonstrate their talents out loud in an unofficial "Countdown Round."
"I feel that all my hard work has paid off," Antilles student Simran Mirchandani said. "Every Saturday we order Domino's pizza and spend four hours doing math. We have a great time."
Organizer and District Mathematics Coordinator for the St. Thomas-St. John School District Ludence Romney said the Antilles' victory was the product of the 18 years of experience that math coach Michele Garcia brought to the team.
Garcia said the team had ramped up efforts with nine extra hours of practice since Christmas. The practice and the team's constant communications with her and with each other are the keys to their success, she said.
"We would meet, then be texting each other and sending pictures back and forth until the late hours of the night," she said.
Although she did not place, Ss. Peter and Paul School sixth-grader Michele Olive said she loved competing in her favorite subject and that her school's team has "some crazy math junkies" on it.
"I like math the best because with other subjects you are just learning things, but with math you are solving problems and breaking things down," Olive said. "When you solve a problem, it's like, 'Woohoo! I did it!'"
Bertha C. Boschulte eighth-grader Tekettay Ludvig said he was "excited" to be representing the district's public schools during the territorial competition and that he will be working "extra hard" over the next few weeks with his coach, Astrid Hypolite.
- Contact Amanda Norris at 714-9104 or email anorris@dailynews.vi.
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