Sandy Springs Education Force Sponsors Hound Bowl

SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- Clearly, Sandy Springs’ elementary school students fervently enjoy math, as was evident on their smiling faces when they recently showed off their skills in a unique math tournament.

Sandy Spring Education Force hosted one of only three such competitions in the state. High Point Elementary School’s inaugural Hound Bowl involved 55 fourth- and fifth-grade students and was free for all participating students.

The program is sanctioned by Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools (MOEMS) and organized by tournament Chair Kerstin Long. Participating students solved 25 problems on a variety of mathematical topics. The Hound Bowl was one of only three MOEMS elementary level tournaments held in Georgia schools this year.

“It was thrilling to witness the students so excited and engaged about using their math skills in competition," SSEF Executive Director Irene Schweiger said. "This event perfectly embodied our work at SSEF, as it celebrated student accomplishments in a STEAM program and showcased to students how math problem solving can be fun – and make a difference in the real world.”

In addition to High Point Elementary School, students from Dunwoody Springs, Lake Forest, Spalding Drive and Woodland Charter Elementary schools competed at the Saturday event. Not simply a test of computation skills, the tournament questions were clever, engaging and challenging to assess problem-solving skills beyond basic math knowledge. Students showed team spirit via matching T-shirts and enthusiastically participated in both group and individual competitions. In addition, Mathnasium provided event t-shirts for all competitors.

Kerstin Long, a teacher at High Point and chair of the event, said the school was "excited" to launch the Hound Bown this year.

"It was an amazing experience to gather so many talented young math students together and watch them work," Long added. "Their energy and creativity were astonishing. We look forward to hosting the tournament next year and hope to have more schools and math teams join us for the event.

Individual award winners in Grade 4 were: first place, Vrishabh Doshi (Spalding Drive); second place, Jian Zeng (Spalding Drive); third place Shuktika Yadav (Woodland). In Grade 5: first place, Haamiz Kabir (Woodland); second place William Tompkins (High Point); third place Mark He (Woodland).

Team Award Winners -- Grade 4

First Place Spalding Drive ES Team 4A: Vrishabh Doshi, Benny Griset, Catharine Johnson, Abby Simon, Jian Zeng.

Second Place Woodland ES Team 4A: Stephen Bowers, Arnav Herwadkar, Ravshan Ibragimov, Yohann John, Shuktika Yadav

Team Award Winners -- Grade 5

First Place Woodland ES Team 5B: Rahcelsai Boggavarap, Christopher Drake, Haamiz Kabir, Ky Duyen Nguyen, Christopher Yamamoto

Second Place High Point ES Team 5B: Reagan Cobb, Ella Novotny, Kevin Nunez, Ryan Price, William Tompkins

Third Place Woodland ES Team 5A: Navya Agarwal Lauren Drake, Mark He, Brennan Malone, Addison Rosenberg

Photo 1: All of the participants at the Hound Bowl sponsored by Sandy Springs Education Force, including fourth- and fifth-grade students from Dunwoody Springs, High Point, Lake Forest, Spalding Drive and Woodland Charter Elementary schools.

Photo 2: Volunteers James Jacoby and Jeremy York of Mathnasium, Chanel Johnson from Fulton County Schools CLE - STEM Program Specialist along with SSEF Executive Director, Irene Schweiger and SSEF Program Champion, Beppie Lever.

Images via Sandy Springs Education Force