Discover math team wins twice even with team divided
Discovery math team members at the MathCounts tourney are, front, Winston Van, Joey Li, Shantanu Kadam, back, Tyler Tolbert and Alan Grissom. (PHOTO/JULIE GOLDSTON)
MADISON – Two tournaments in one day presented a quandary for the math team at Discovery Middle School. Their brave solution netted success in both tourneys on Feb. 9.
Discovery decided to split its math team to attend both events “with fantastic results,” math teacher and sponsor Julie Goldston said.
Five Discovery students attended the MathCounts chapter competition, open to grades 6-8, at Randolph School in Huntsville. “Only four were allowed to compete as a team. The fifth competed in the individual competition only,” Goldston said.
Vying against seven teams, Discovery’s team took first place in team competition. Team members are Alan Grissom, Joey Li, Tyler Tolbert and Winston Van. All five scored over 30, outpacing the average score of 22.23.
“These four gentlemen will continue to state competition held in Birmingham next month,” Goldston said. “Depending on their performance at state, they may advance to the national level in Washington D.C.” Shantanu Kadam competed individually.
All Discovery students ranked in the Top Ten: Li, third place; Grissom, sixth; Van, seventh; Tolbert, eighth; and Kadam, ninth.
In addition, 17 Discovery students entered Division 1 at the Grissom High School tournament held at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Seventh-graders competed in pre-algebra, while eight-graders tested their knowledge of algebra 1.
Discovery’s seventh-grade team earned second place. “We also had four students who earned individual trophies,” Goldston said. Warren He took fifth-place honors; Marshall Wu, seventh; Sean Lee, ninth; and Meenu Bhooshanan, eleventh. Other seventh-graders are Kim Dang, Brett Manis, Erin Martin, Chidubem Okafor and Melody Zhang.
“Our eighth-grade team earned a first-place team trophy,” Goldston said. Discovery math whizzes placing individually are Amelia Goldston, first; Jasmine Atassi, third; Ada Van der Zijp-Tan, fifth; Daniel Li, seventh; and Jane Zhang, twelfth. Other eighth-graders are Mindy Foster, Nihar Patel and Tahseen Robbani.
Admittedly, Goldston is a “proud math coach and very proud mom. As you can see, Discovery’s math team had a great day.”
