Woodhull Strong in Suffolk
Math Tournament
These kids are really sharp when it comes to numbers and just about everything else. Woodhull Intermediate School students shined in the sixth annual Suffolk County elementary math tournament at Stony Brook University.
The competition demanded critical thinking and cooperation and the Woodhull youngsters showed plenty of both. Participants came from all over western Suffolk to participate in the Math Olympiad-style tournament.
The event, which received support from the Suffolk County Math Teachers' Association, challenged students in fourth through sixth grade to answer higher-level and multi-step math problems in both individual and team contests.
Members of the Huntington School District's contingent are all members of Woodhull's Math Olympiad program. They were accompanied to the Suffolk tournament by their Math Olympiad coach and teacher Maryann Daly, who also serves as chairperson of the district's SEARCH program. Teachers Heather Barfuss, Keith Meyers and Christina Gottlieb also came along on the trip, each supervising a team of Woodhull students.
"They have come with me for the past five years," said Mrs. Daly about her three colleagues. "I purposely request them because they are so nurturing and math savvy. They supported their assigned team at Stony Brook and made them less nervous. I truly appreciate their dedication to the kids and to an entire day of Math."
Hosted by R. David Bynum, director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education at Stony Brook, the Student Activities Center's large ballroom was full of excited and enthusiastic students. There were 53 five-person teams in this year's tournament. Participants represented 32 different schools from 13 school districts and two private schools.
Woodhull's teams have traditionally turned in strong performances in the Suffolk competition and this year was no different. Woodhull's sixth grade A team placed sixth overall. The squad was led by Noah Morris, who tied for 16th place overall and Katie Burton, who tied for 21st. The A team also received contributions from David Mosden, Hadley Clayton and Haley Mortell.
In an amazing show of depth, Woodhull's sixth grade B team placed 11th overall. Led by Katie Stock and Matthew Quinn (tied for 21st), the team also benefited from the performances of Nina Danseglio, Jack Langton and Christiana DeLuca.
Woodhull fifth graders were not left behind in the competition. One of the two teams finished fourth in their grade level division. Led by Julien Rentsch and Ryan Knowles, who tied for 21st place overall, the team was ably supported by Andrew Knowles (tied for 42nd), Matthew Gennarelli and Nathan Musso.
A second fifth grade team from consisting of Lily Stein, Abby Holmes, Justin Stevens, Oskar Kilgour and Jack Monahan "also tried their very best to answer these difficult multi-step problems," Mrs. Daly said.
When the scores were finally tabulated, Messrs. Morris and Monahan had placed among the top twenty individual participants, answering 9-of-10 questions correctly. "This is quite an accomplishment considering the difficulty level of the questions selected along with the number of strong competitors (over 275) involved in this tournament," Mrs. Daly said.
During the individual portion of the tournament, students were given 30 minutes to work independently on ten difficult problems. During the team portion, each five-student team was asked to work together to complete ten even more complex problems in only 20 minutes. The competition was intense, yet the Huntington teams' scores just missed qualifying for a trophy.
"It is the experience of participating in a tournament like this one that is the real reward for the children," Mrs. Daly said. "Bringing home the gold is always icing on the cake. However, exposing the children to an all-day competition surrounded by students of like ability in critical thinking is the real reason why I continue to bring the children to this tournament each year."
Huntington has been the second most successful school district in the six year history of the Suffolk competition. It has turned in numerous high place-finishes, with district teams placing first and second in 2009. This year's competition might have just set the stage for future success for Woodhull.
"Each team worked together like they had been trained to do and witnessing how they supported one another during this entire day was more than gratifying to watch," Mrs. Daly said. "I am very proud of each and every one of these wonderful children. Huntington was well represented that day!"