Math Whiz Places 29th at State Competition

Story Problem: What result could be expected when you give high school students two 100-minute mathematics exams filled with complex equations, multi-layered computations, and involved calculations?

Cold Sweats? Migraines? Exploding heads?

All of the above, unless you give those tests to senior Karl Winsor. 

Winsor proved as much by placing 29^th in this year’s Michigan Mathematics Prize Competition, a contest designed for the top high school math students in the state. Winsor, who bested nearly 6,200 other competitors, learned of his achievement at Saturday’s awards ceremony held at Hope College in Holland.           

“I was pretty happy about (my results),” Winsor said. “That’s the best I’ve ever done. My parents were pretty happy and proud, too.”

Winsor was among 30 standouts from Saline who qualified for Part II of the MMPC held on Nov. 30. Part I of the test, a 40-problem exam, was given at 157 schools throughout Michigan on October 5. Just 18 percent of test-takers qualified for Part II.

On Part II of the MMPC, Winsor had to navigate through five challenging problems to which students needed to provide written explanations for their claims and mathematical proofs of their results.

“Karl is just an exceptional student,” math teacher Dr. Jeré Hassberger said. “No one will really be astonished that he scored so well. That being said, it’s a tremendous accomplishment.”

Seniors Tate Burns and Alec Rodriquez also boasted top-200 scores. According to Hassberger, Saline’s results at the event were among its best ever.

Winsor’s career showings are impressive, considering he has finished in the top 200 each of his four years of high school. The soon-to-be University of Michigan School of Engineering student credited his freshman math teacher Joyce Jonik for helping him better his understanding of mathematics.

“When I had Ms. Jonik in my freshmen year for geometry class, she was the one who introduced me to solid concrete proofs,” he said. “She was really good at explaining things, really good at helping me understand how to write down a very solid train of logic.”

Winsor won a $250 prize for his efforts.