At the June 13, 2017 Abington School Board meeting, Dr. Ann Bacon, Director of Curriculum, presented our mathematics competitions award winners with School Board President Raymond McGarry, Esquire. She commented that during this school year, Abington elementary, junior, and senior high school students participated and excelled in a variety of county, state, national, and international mathematics competitions. Recognition of the senior high school winners took place as part of an earlier awards ceremony at the school. Last night, we honored award-winning K-8 students from the elementary and junior high schools.
The Atlantic-Pacific Mathematics League Contest is a national competition that consists of a series of six tests. Awards are given at the end of the contest to the highest scoring teams in each region. Dr. Pellico announced that the Junior High School was the first place winner in the Middle School Division!
The Math Fax Competition is a national competition that consists of a series of written tests administered by grade level during the school year. At Rydal Elementary School, Suhaan Kumar won a first place prize and Timothy Kossenkov won a third place prize.
The Pennsylvania Statistics Poster Competition is an annual statewide contest where students design creative posters that must include at least two types of graphs to display the answer to an interesting question. This year, there were 23 award winning posters at the elementary school level statewide; Abington students claimed 18 of the 23 awards! Winning posters from the state competition are entered in the National Statistics Poster Competition; this year an Abington student won the First Place Award in this prestigious competition. At the Junior High School, Dominic DaSilva won an Honorable Mention for the poster titled “Pencils!” At Copper Beech Elementary School, Sohail Aji won an Honorable Mention for the poster titled “Kids, Are You Sleeping Enough?” At Highland Elementary School, Marguerite Burstyn won a Third Place award and $48 for the poster titled “Chocolate Melting Time” and First Place in the National Statistics Poster Competition, winning a check, plaque, and calculator! Brandon and Tristan Bacordo won Top Honorable Mention for the poster titled “STEM Today, Go All the Way?” At Overlook Elementary School, Beckett and Asher Mostert won an Honorable Mention for the poster titled “Birds,” and Madeline Krassner won an Honorable Mention for the poster titled “Generosity.” At Roslyn Elementary School, Sophia Burgos won a Second Place Award and $72 for the poster titled “How Many Grown-Ups Can Pass Third Grade Science Test?”; Allison Rickards won Top Honorable Mention for the poster titled “How Many Marshmallows in My Jug?”; Chase Bottone won an Honorable Mention for the poster titled “Flipping”; Aeryn Gibbons won an Honorable Mention for the poster titled “How Long is the Average Song?”; and Jane Rickards won Honorable Mention for the poster “More Cluck for Your Buck?” At Rydal Elementary School, John Jadach won Honorable Mention for “Where To Find A Sunny Day in the USA”; Emma Cannady won Honorable Mention for the poster titled “What is the Fastest Way for Me, a Seven-Year-Old Girl, to Swim Across a 40 Foot Pool?; Oscar and Calvin Hoffman won First Place and $96 for the poster titled “Let Your Nose Do the Picking”; Giovani Corabi won Second Place and $72 for the poster titled “How Many Minutes of An American Football Game Are Live Action?”; Maximilian Farma won Third Place and $48 for the poster titled “Ouch! Youth Sport Injuries”; Joseph Cuddy and Samuel Blitchford won Honorable Mention for the poster titled “What Type of Ground Material Does Water Travel Through Fastest?”; and William Blitchford won Honorable Mention for the poster titled “How Fast Liquids Freeze.” At Willow Hill Elementary School Sarah Lyles won Honorable Mention for the poster titled “Button Battery Danger for Kids (and Hot Dogs).”
The Mathematical Olympiad for Elementary and Middle Schools is an international competition consisting of five tests given at monthly intervals from November to March. Each test includes five problems. The awards system recognizes team and individual accomplishments. The “Highest Team Achievement” award and plaque is awarded for teams whose scores are in the top 10% of all participating teams in the specified grade level. In the individual awards category, Gold Pins are awarded to students who finish in the top 2 percent, answering at least 20 of the 25 problems correctly. The most prestigious individual award in this competition is the George Lenchner Award, a medallion, named for the founder of the competition, and presented to students who achieve a perfect score for the entire year; this honor is earned by fewer than 1/3 of 1 percent of all participants! This year Abington has two winners in this category, an achievement accomplished by only 0.2% of the participating students in the world!
Copper Beech earned a Highest Team Achievement Award plaque and Gold Pins were earned by Audrey Moore and Thomas Shafie; in addition, Audrey Moore won a Lenchner Award for a perfect score. Highland earned a Highest Team Achievement Award plaque and Gold Pins were earned by Robert Spence Lowery, Lily Gray, and Peter Murray. At McKinley, Benjamin Cossrow earned a Gold Pin. Overlook earned a Highest Team Achievement Award plaque and Gold Pins were earned by Garrett Farabaugh, Alyssa Nguyen, Jeremy Slotter, and Benjamin Suit. Rydal earned a Highest Team Achievement Award plaque and Gold Pins were earned by Darren Mo, Anna Cleary, Justin Muttreja, Kaileb Kim, Maximilian Farma, and Jordan Lieberman; in addition, Darren Mo won a Lenchner Award for a perfect score. At Willow Hill, Gold Pins were earned by Richard Le and David Mwaria.
Dr. Bacon concluded the program last night by recognizing and thanking the Board of School Directors for their continued support of the mathematics programs, the Abington staff who assist with preparing students for these competitions, and family members who encourage students to work hard and do their best.