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Fulton Science Academy Advances to Nationals After Taking Top Award In State MATHCOUNTS Competition
FSA's Middle School Math Team won 1st Place in the 2017 Georgia MATHCOUNTS Competition; Team Coach and Team Member Will Advance to Naitonals
Fulton Science Academy’s Middle School Math Team won First Place in the 2017 Georgia MATHCOUNTS Competition that was held at Georgia Tech on Monday, March 20, 2017.
Additionally, following the results of Monday’s tournament, one FSA student, Holden Watson, and the school’s Department Head and Math Team Coach, Mrs. Sema Duzyol, will both head to Nationals in Orlando later this spring.
Only the top four students from each state are invited to participate in the National MATHCOUNTS Competition, as well as the coach from the state’s ranking first place team who is given the unique opportunity to lead the state team to Nationals. This is the second consecutive year that Fulton Science Academy Private School has had at least one student and its coach advance to the National finals.
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“I am thrilled to be coaching Georgia’s MATHCOUNTS Team and to be representing Georgia at the National Tournament,” said Coach Duzyol.
In addition to an overall first place team win in the state finals, FSA was honored to have eighth grader, Holden Watson, place first individually on March 20 against the best mathletes in the state. Bringing further accolades to the school, eighth grader, Vishaal Ram, won fifth place.
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“It is a testament to the dedication of Coach Duzyol and the success of FSA’s math department to have two students place in the top five finalists at the state competition where they competed against the best minds from every chapter in Georgia,” said Fulton Science Academy Principal, Kenan Sener.
Coach Duzyol confirmed the intensity of the competition, commenting, “Every year, the state tournament gets more rigorous and competition questions become more challenging. It’s quite exciting! Even though we placed second as a team in the Chapter Tournament, we aspired to place first at the State Competition by actively engaging in collaborative workshops which showed the students’ very serious dedication to the tournament.”
Duzyol continued, “I could not be more proud of our students. In addition to juggling very demanding academic schedules, they still manage to spend dozens of hours in workshops preparing. It is such an inspiration to guide them and work together with them; their shared love of math and the positive manner in which they encourage one another is really something special.”
Team members seem to agree with their Coach. “We definitely went into this state competition with our sights set on advancing to nationals,” said eighth grader, Holden Watson, FSAPS team member, and Georgia State’s first place winner. “The caliber of competitors was very strong, so it was critical for us to stay focused, calm, and to hammer away at each problem methodically.”
The state competition is one of the hundreds hosted annually around the country by MATHCOUNTS, a nonprofit foundation that has provided enriching, extracurricular opportunities to students and free, high-quality resources to educators for more than 30 years. The group provides engaging math programs to US middle school students of all ability levels, which helps build confidence and improve attitudes towards math and problem-solving.
According to the MATHCOUNTS website, “Middle school students exist at a critical juncture in which their love for mathematics must be nurtured, or their fear of mathematics must be overcome. MATHCOUNTS provides students with the kinds of experiences that foster growth and transcend fear to lay a foundation for future success” (https://www.mathcounts.org).
About Fulton Science Academy
Fulton Science Academy Private School (FSAPS) has fostered a “yearn to learn” culture where students embrace an innovative, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) curriculum. FSA’s study body is diverse and reflects award-winning academic teams, competitive athletes, personal entrepreneurs, professional working actors, and award-winning critical thinkers. Built upon core values of excellence, innovation, and character, FSAPS has engineered a school of the future, today. For more information on this school, which serves students in Pre-K through high school, please visit http://www.fultonscienceacademy.org.
