SSEF Sponsors 2nd Annual Hound Bowl Math Tournament

From the Sandy Springs Education Force: Sandy Springs public school students must really enjoy math, as 60 pupils in grades 4, 5 and 6 volunteered to spend a Saturday competing in the High Point Elementary School’s Second Annual Hound Bowl Math Tournament. The event, sponsored by Sandy Springs Education Force (SSEF), was free for all participating students.

The program was sanctioned by Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools (MOEMS) and organized by Tournament Chair and High Point Elementary School teacher, Kerstin Long. Participating students solved 20 to 25 clever, engaging, and challenging problems on a variety of mathematical topics. They competed face-to-face for 4½ hours on five-member teams. The Hound Bowl was one of only three MOEMS tournaments held in Georgia schools this year.

SSEF Executive Director, Irene Schweiger, noted, “Sandy Springs Education Force was excited to see this event grow this year to include 6th graders. It’s wonderful to see so many students and their teachers come out on a Saturday to participate in a math competition. This is a real celebration of what SSEF is all about: giving our Sandy Springs public school students opportunities use their problem solving skills to demonstrate how they are preparing to use these skills in the real world.”

This year, participants included teams from Dunwoody Springs, High Point, Ison Springs, Spalding Drive and Woodland Elementary Schools, as well as Ridgeview Middle School. 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.

Tournament Chair, Kerstin Long, commented, “We are thrilled to host the Hound Bowl Math Tournament at High Point. The Tournament is focused on building a community of Sandy Springs students and teachers who are eager to take on mathematical challenges and stretch their problem solving capabilities. It’s exciting to watch the teams in action during the Tournament and know they have worked hard all year to hone their math talents. The students this year were tough competitors! We appreciate Sandy Springs Education Force and Mathnasium of Sandy Springs for supporting our event and helping make it possible.”

Official Results

Individual Award Winners

Grade 4

First Place: Charles Hendry High Point ES Team 4A; Second Place: Gison Xu Spalding Drive ES Team 4A; Third Place: Diya Praveen Woodland ES Team 4A

Grade 5

First Place: Vrishabh Doshi Spalding Drive ES Team 5A; Second Place: Arnav Herdwadkar Woodland ES Team 5A; Third Place: Brayden Allgood High Point ES Team 5A

Grade 6

First Place: William Tompkins Ridgeview MS Team 6B; Second Place: John Gomez Ridgeview MS Team 6B; Third Place: Kevin Nunez Ridgeview MS Team 6B

Team Award Winners

Grade 4

First Place: High Point ES Team 4A: Mason Below, Charles Hendry, Ellie Lesser, Lauren Scales, Quentin Stout

Second Place Spalding Drive ES Team 4A: Henok Asrat, Shahraiz Bhatti, Samaya Sahijram-Dansingani, Tennyson Crockett Brown, Gison Xu

Third Place Woodland ES Team 4A: Dushyanth Gowda, Susan Kambam, Tamoghna Naladala, Diya Praveen

Grade 5

First Place High Point ES Team 5A: Brayden Allgood, Ian Boemanns, Luke Johnson, Laila Patel, Padgett Wilson

Second Place Spalding Drive ES Team 5A: Beck Ballowe, Vrishabh Doshi, Cat Johnson, Paula Ortiz Garcia, Jian Zeng

Third Place High Point ES Team 5B: Laura Avalos, Joel Lopez-Ayala, Hannah Mabry, Vivienne Seidel, Wil Alvarez Tacuba

Grade 6

First Place Ridgeview MS Team 6B: John Gomez, Kevin Nunez, William Tompkins, Emilio Yanes

Second Place Ridgeview MS Team 6A: Morgan Echols, Ava Grace Mabry, Maya Olidge, Douglas Sopher, Holden Wright-Gardner

Images via Sandy Springs Education Force:

Image 1. High Point Elementary’s first-place, 5th grade team. Pictured from left to right: Brayden Allgood, Padgett Wilson, Luke Johnson, Laila Patel, Ian Boemanns.

Image 2. High Point Elementary’s first-place, 4th grade team. Pictured from left to right: Mason Below, Quentin Stout, Ellie Lesser and Lauren Scales.