Discovery, Bob Jones and James Clemens rank in national math contest

MADISON – Math students in three Madison schools placed in the Top 25 for the 2013 Fall Start-Up Event, administered by National Assessment & Testing.

(CONTRIBUTED)

“I am extremely pleased with their results, especially considering the level of difficulty,” Julie Goldston said. She teaches and coaches the math team at Discovery Middle School.

Discovery placed third among about 20 middle schools in this national contest. Individually, seventh-graders Aditi Limaye and Tony Tian placed 21st and 24th, respectively.

“These middle school students are able to remain level-headed when faced with extremely difficult problems. That will serve them well in the future,” Goldston said.

James Clemens High School placed ninth and Bob Jones High School rated 14th among about 115 competitors.

From James Clemens High School, Hari Pingali secured 12th place among freshmen; Pratheek Bobba, 13th for sophomores; and Sunny Chennupati, 10th among juniors. Shaun Bardell coaches the Jets team.

At Bob Jones High School, Joey Li earned sixth place and Winston Van took 17th among freshmen and Kevin Duan was 15th among sophomores. Kimberly Cox is the coach for Bob Jones.

“The Fall Start-Up is a national tournament where we compete against teams from all over the country — California, New Jersey, Colorado, Washington, New Mexico and Tennessee,” Discovery Principal Melanie Barkley said.

In this competition, students receive 100 problems to complete in 30 minutes. “They work independently,” Goldston said. “The problems vary in difficulty, but since the contest is intended for high school students, the questions are mostly quite difficult.”

Under the time constraint, “speed is extremely important. After the test, the coach grades the test and submits results and student answer documents to National Assessment to verify the results,” Goldston said.

Goldston had coached Limaye and Tian as fourth- and fifth-graders at Rainbow Elementary School. Then, Annie Williams was their coach for sixth grade.

Depending on age groups, National Assessment determined the Top 25 schools by totaling the highest scores of students.

For more information, visit natassessment.com.