Clarendon Hills Middle School (CHMS) Math Team members recently competed in a state math competition following a 1st place win in the suburban division of the regional MathCounts Competition. The regional event took place February 22. Participating CHMS students included Annika Agrawal, Daren Chen, Chuqi Zheng, and Kevin Jin, with students Nathan Cruz Walma and Hayward Melton serving as alternates. The state contest on March 8 included 300 students from over 75 schools; the event was organized by the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers (ISPE) to recognize achievement in math skills. CHMS teacher Mary Sprengnether is the team’s sponsor and says this was the first time in 17 years she can recall CHMS winning the first place prize at the regional event and bringing a whole team to the state competition. She also noted that four of the team members are 7th graders, who competed against many 8th graders.
While they did not qualify for participation in the national competition held in May, the team says the state and regional competitions were still fun experiences. Agrawal says her favorite part was the team portion of the regional event. “We worked together really well, even though most of us are in different math classes. That part of the event was our best score.” In addition to a team round, students answered questions individually. The questions included primarily word problems and equations in the areas of geometry and algebra. “It was challenging because the problems were about application,” Agrawal explained. “You had to use your knowledge to answer questions you wouldn’t see in school.” The 7th graders look forward to participating again next year.
Chen, who earned the top individual score of the CHMS team, says he enjoys math because of the interesting tricks, patterns, and graphs he can make and the fun ways it can be used.
Team members also agreed that while they may not all pursue careers in math-related fields, they took the words of ISPE members to heart when the architects and engineers noted that students’ investment in math is a good investment in their future.
