Journey Math Team tops large schools in Muscle Shoals
MADISON – Although placed in the large-school category with well established teams, the Math Team from Journey Middle School won eight individual awards and team awards in all grade levels at the Muscle Shoals Middle School Math Tournament.
Only in its second year, the Journey Math Team competed in the tourney’s 22nd year on Nov. 2.
“I am blown away by how hard my students worked for us to win big today. I am SUPER proud of my team,” Mrinal Joshi said. Joshi serves as Journey’s Mathematics Department Head and Math Team Coach.
“We needed more hands to carry our trophies. We won eight individual awards and each grade level won a team award. Great job, Math Team. We competed as a large school against all the Division 1 schools,” Joshi said.
In their division, Journey sixth-graders competed against 95 students, seventh-graders had 63 competitors, and eighth-graders had 70 competitors.
For team trophies, the top four scores on tests and ciphering are used. Journey’s sixth-graders took third place; seventh- graders aced first place; and eighth-graders claimed third place.
Individual awards go to the top 10 students overall per grade level.
Journey sixth-graders with place wins were John Kawamoto, fourth place; Dheeren Pammina, fifth; and Ally Tubbs, eleventh place. John Kawamoto, Dheeren Pammina, Ally Tubbs and Aaron Kim had the top four scores for the written test.
Other sixth-graders in the tournament were Lilia Baker, Mathieu Bruer, Thomas Francis, Oliver Hanson, Harleigh Henderson, Eli McMillan, Channing Meyer, Garen Parker and Astha Pradhan.
In seventh grade, Kylie Zou earned second place; Esteban Jerez, third; Rohan Sahoo, fifth; and Wylie Savage, eleventh.
Other seventh-graders competing were Ananya Bhovi, Neil Dube, IkeOluwanimi Farounbi, Rachel Harris, Caden Howard, Antonio Hughes, Kushal Patel, Vansh Patel, Mason Park, Marlon Ross and Ivy Zhang.
In eighth grade, place winners were Aryana Baria, fifth; Tran Ngo, seventh; and Austin Zhu, eighth. The top four students for the written test were Aryana Baria, Tran Ngo, Austin Zhu and Grace Mehta.
Other eighth-graders were Valen Bell, Charvisri Donthula, Deidra Dorcoo, Nabila Orman, Venkata Samiraju (Praba) and Emily Steverson.
“People do not realize how much work goes into a math team class. It’s not just teaching the class,” Joshi said. Preparation requires board-approved paperwork, liability forms, collecting/ paying fees and teaching.
The tournament’s written test has 25 multiple- choice questions and three tiebreakers. Four designated students from each grade level enter a ciphering contest. Journey’s team works extremely hard on competition problems, involving serious higher-order thinking skills. “As a team — me as a teacher and my students — work hard together to get good end-results,” Joshi said.
A multiple-choice example is: Regular pentagon DEFGH is inscribed in a circle. If the circle’s radius is 5 inches and pentagon’s perimeter is 30 inches, find the pentagon’s area. In square inches, (a) 30, (b) 60, (c) 120 or (d) 150.
The Ciphering Team members were John Kawamoto, Kylie Zou, Aryana Baria, Dheeren Pammina, Wylie Savage, Austin Zhu, Ally Tubbs, Rohan Sahoo, Tran Ngo, Lilia Baker, Esteban Jerez and Valen Bell.
Joshi advises her students to answer a problem only when they’re confident about the answer.
Journey’s next tournament will be at Vestavia Hills on Dec. 7.
