Incentives drive students to math competition
What’s stranger than 150 high school kids voluntarily taking two, one hour-long math tests? They were excited about it.
In fact, when the instructor said, “You may begin,” several kids gushed, “Yes!” under their breaths as they eagerly peeled back the cover page on the test.
On Tuesday, North Idaho College held its 26th annual High School Mathematics Contest. Some of the teenagers arrived in jeans and sweatshirts, others in suits and ties, and a few in dresses. They were-fresh faced and eager to begin a morning of mind-grilling testing that could make blood vessels pop in the brains of lesser mortals.
“It was pretty intense,” said Dan Zeck of Coeur d’Alene High School.
“Extremely intense,” agreed classmate, Carl Lawrence.
When the group of Coeur d’Alene High students was asked why anyone would voluntarily submit themselves to two hours of math testing, they blurted their incentive – extra credit in their math class.
But there is another incentive for seniors to take the test. Any senior who places first in their division gets a one-year free ride to North Idaho College, a $2,110 value. Not bad for two hours of twisting your brain in knots.
“We give them two individual one-hour tests, written by our math department,” said Angela Earnhart, NIC math instructor. “The math they’re doing covers pretty much everything a high school kid might know, through pre-calculus. A lot of it is not just skill work, but problem-solving. They’re very tough tests to do in an hour.”
The kids were allowed nonalgebraic calculators for the first test, but not the second. Extras were provided for those whose calculators did not meet the criteria for the tests. After lunch the kids made their way back into the testing room to find out who the winners were. Everyone was entered into a drawing for a graphing calculator, worth close to $100. Individuals who won second and third place in their division were awarded a plaque and $20 gift certificate at Hastings Book and Music Store. First-place winners received a graphing calculator and first-place seniors were awarded a one-year tuition waiver at North Idaho College.
The individual winners for Division 2 nonseniors: 1, Evan McCarty, CdA Charter, 25 points; 2, Jamie Haddock, Potlatch, 21 points; 3, John Frei, Potlatch, 19 points).
Division 2 seniors: 1, Patrick McHail, Kootenai, 21 points; 2, Susanne Lynch, Timberlake 20+ points; 3, Tess Doumas, CdA Charter, 20 points. The winning team for Division 2: Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy with a score of 63 points, the combination of the team’s three highest scorers.
The individual winners for Division 1 nonseniors: 1, John Brusaw, Sandpoint (26 pts.); 2, Bryant Baird, Lake City, 24 points; 3, David Tee, Coeur d’Alene High, 20 points.
Division 1 seniors: 1, Ryan Williams, Sandpoint, 32 points; 2, Joseph Tamasonis, Post Falls, 28 points; 3, John Aycicek, Lakeland, 27 points. The winning team for Division 1 was Sandpoint with 84 points.
“Sandpoint typically does very well,” said Earnhart. “They always bring a big contingent and lots of enthusiasm. For the small schools, Potlatch dominated for many, many years. A couple of years ago, Coeur d’Alene Charter started bringing a group of kids, and they’ve been winning the small school category, although Potlatch still gives them a run for their money.”
Top score for the day was senior Ryan Williams of Sandpoint. Williams is a veteran at the competition, competing in his sophomore and junior years and taking first place in the nonsenior division in 2006.
“I was pretty confident after the test,” said Williams. “It was hard, but I compared answers with my math teacher afterward and I did pretty well.”
Williams isn’t sure where he wants to go to college yet, but intends to try and use his tuition waiver for the second semester of his senior year to help with the dual enrollment online college courses he’s taking.
“I want to major in engineering,” said Williams. “I’m not sure what kind, hopefully I’ll figure it out when I’m in college.”
Sandpoint math teacher Nachele Search has brought the Sandpoint Math Club to the contest for the past 10 years.
“Most of my seniors are in calculus now,” said Search. “Ryan Williams already did calculus, so this year he’s doing online math on his own, the next set of calculus. So he’s really a sharp kid.”
The Sandpoint Math Club participates in several math competitions throughout the year and consistently does well at the NIC Mathematics Contest.
“The kids have to miss a day of classes and most of these kids really don’t want to miss class, because they’re the good students,” said Search. “And these kids aren’t nerds, they excel in sports, music, drama as well as academics. But as far as the competition, these kids eat it up.”