(Submitted by PACE teacher Laura Weaver)
Student “mathletes” in Bowling Green City School’s PACE program for gifted students scored top honors in the Perennial Math competition.
This is the fifth year for the students in the PACE program to compete in the international competition for accelerated students. Unlike the past years of competing, this year’s test questions were even more advanced. Perennial Math explained the competition had been adapted for more difficult logic questions in the algebra and geometry categories due to the large number of students in Turkey and China who were driving the questions for more competitive scoring.
This year, 13,074 students from the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, China, Spain and Turkey participated online in grades 3 to 8. The competition consists of four tests beginning in November and ending in February.
Gold medals are awarded to students with the highest scores on their team and dog tags are awarded to student who scored in the top 10 percent individually of their grade level. Team plaques are awarded to teams who score in the top 10 percent which is the sum of the top 10 cumulative scores.
This year, several PACE students competed on multiple teams based on their math skills at and above grade level.
All three teams – Rookie, Intermediate and Advanced – won plaques this year for the second consecutive year.
The rookie team tests are for third and fourth grade students. There were 5,455 students and 311 teams competing in this category. Gold medalists for the rookie team who had perfect scores or top scores for their grade level were: Isa Wan, Luca Brininger, Nathan Cavanagh and Arianna Chung.
Isa, Luca and Nathan were the only students in this competition who had perfect scores among all students.
Rookie team dog tag winners were: Isa Wan, Luca Brininger, Nathan Cavanagh, Arianna Chung, Evan Meyer, Drew Erekson, Jocelyn Loe, Robert Stygles, Shelby Janes, Zoe Brujic, James Bates, Liam Rogel, Blaize Reinhart and Umi Horiuchi.
For a rookie team plaque, students had to score a combined 161 points. The BG rookie team had the highest overall score with 222.
The intermediate team tests are for fifth and sixth graders. This was our most diverse and largest team of mathletes with 30 third through sixth graders. There were 4,396 students competing in this category and 336 teams. Gold medalists were from third through fifth grades: Allie Parish, Braden Knavel, Cole Ash, Isa Wan and Arianna Chung.
Intermediate team dog tag winners were: Allie Parish, Braden Knavel, Cole Ash, Isa Wan, Arianna Chung, Ben Burton, Ben Bates, Daniel Schuman, Drew Erekson, Jocelyn Loe, Nathan Cavanagh, Zoe Brujic and Robert Stygles.
For the intermediate team plaque, students had to score a combined 160 points, and the BG team scored 203.
This was the third year for BG to have an advanced team, which is for seventh and eighth grade students. There were 3,223 students competing for a total of 251 teams, and for the first time this year, third and fourth graders competed at this level.
Gold medalists were: Benjamin Bates, Daniel Schuman and fifth grader Cole Ash.
Dog tag winners included: Ben Bates, Daniel Schuman, Cole Ash, Ben Burton and Braden Knavel.
To receive a team plaque, this team needed 139 points, and they had the highest overall team score with 151.
I am extremely proud to coach these students who excel in one of the most competitive math programs in the U.S. They practice algebra equations, geometry and logic math to compete each year. It takes all students on the team to help win plaques and I appreciate their efforts each year.
We held the second on site math tournament at the PAC in April. The PACE students dominated the competition in the individual and team competitions. With their wins, they were eligible to compete in the Nationals Tournament. Fourth grader Isa Wan took third place out of 44 students in the individual tournament and our two teams placed fourth and fifth respectively out of 19 teams.
