Finley Students Sparkle in Math Masters Invitational

J. Taylor Finley Middle School math teachers Abigail Simon and Denise Grodzicki recently led a contingent of 10 students to the 2nd Annual Math Masters Invitational at Udall Road Middle School in West Islip.

Dozens of schools participated with Finley students more than holding their own. Finley’s Terrific Ten included seventh graders Nicolas Chan Camargo, Samantha Graber, Dylan Jurow, Jonathan Mejia Calderon and Michael Spagnoletti and eighth graders William Dease, Mia Hodgkinson, Owen Hoffman, Brady Oliva and Andrew Parrott.

Finley students competed with other middle schools all across the island, spanning from Long Beach to Hampton Bays. There was an individual round, a school team round and a mixed team round. Students also participated in icebreaker activities to get to know students from other schools, as well as a variety of different math activities in between the competition rounds.

Jonathan Mejia Calderon and Michael Spagnoletti were both on the first place team for the mixed event, completing a Ken-Ken puzzle, a grid-based numerical puzzle that combines elements of sudoku and arithmetic. Samantha Graber won a raffle prize for her completion of extra activities.

“All Finley students put great effort in throughout the day,” Ms. Simon said.