Nine students from Evans Middle School recently competed in the annual Math Counts Competition at Indian Hills Community College. The students finished fourth overall and Hayden Short finished in the Top 2. Short will advance to the state competition at Drake University on March 31.
The competition has students testing in three or four different rounds where the math varies from sixth grade topics to high school geometry. The first round is called the Sprint Round where students have 40 minutes to complete 30 math problems without a calculator. In the second round, called the Target Round, students get four sets of two problems, each six minutes long where a calculator can be utilized. Next, the four top competitors advance to the Team Round where they work collaboratively on 10 problems for 20 minutes with a calculator. Finally, the top 10 performers are placed in a Countdown Round where they must compete one verses one answering problems without a calculator until there are two winners.
"This was the best year our students have performed," said Math Counts coach Nancy Van Wyk. There were a total of eight teams and 64 students who competed.
Team members were: Hayden Short, Sophia Ford, Jonathan Francisco Pascual, Abbi Allison, Ciara Jones, Katy Cramblit, Penelope Teel, Tristan Lemeuse, and Annie Barrios.