Lake Bluff Math Team Shines in National Contest

After a year of meeting weekly to practice problem-solving skills, and five months of testing leading up to the Mathematics Olympiad — the results are in.

And, Lake Bluff Elementary happily received the news this month that their scores placed them in the top 10 percent of the nation, with a group score of 184.

“These problems are really different, really tough," said Sam Knox, who has worked with the group and is a local full-time dad. "They use existing curriculum … just in a novel way.

"The problems can take up to 10 minutes to understand, so we practice and it’s unusual for students in fifth and sixth grades to be able to address any question that could take 10 minutes to really understand.”

The Mathematics Olympiad is an organization dedicated to providing an incentive for students to intensify their study of math problem solving. As part of their challenge, they offer a five-month series of tests, compiles the results by team, and at the end ranks teams by the top 10 contestant scores.

This year, both and had math teams of 32 and 26 fifth and sixth grade students, respectively.

Each student’s answers are submitted to the site, and the top 10 scores are combined for a group score. This year, two students at Lake Bluff missed two tests, but despite the setback, the group scored in the top 10 percent of all teams in the U.S., earning them a plaque, which will arrive next month.

David Cobb, whose daughter Ari participated on the team, said placing in the top 10 was pretty exciting for both him and his daughter.

"What is most satisfying is to see young girls interested and excited about math," he said. "Ari always had strong conceptual abilities and loves problem solving."

So, how does one learn how to solve the tough problems? Knox says that practice is the key.

“Mental toughness; learning different tools to break problems down and approach them in different ways," he said.   

Jennifer Cosgrove is the head of Shorewood’s advanced educational programs, and oversees the Math Olympiad and said the best part about the challenge is that the goal is "the team score; the team's best effort."

“We want to build their problem solving abilities, and each person doing their best to challenge themselves and do well as a school," Cosgrove said.

Knox praised Cosgrove for being able to “really rally the students and build excitement” for the program. 

“It’s a good camaraderie, with a focus on team result nationwide and not against one another," he said. "This makes a huge difference in how motivated they are."