Last night, Dr. Denise Mendez, Coordinator of Mathematics and Elementary Science, presented our mathematics award winners and 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 students from the elementary and junior high schools.
In the Pennsylvania Statistics Poster Contest, Abington School District has a total of 19 winning posters. The contest invites students from grades K through 12, to design creative posters that must include at least two types of graphs to display the answer to an interesting question. Students may create a survey, conduct an experiment, or use published references for their data collection. Cordell Cheng at the junior high school won an honorable mention in the PA Statistics Poster Competition for his poster “How Numbers Keep You Safe” and his poster advanced to the American Statistics Poster Contest where he won an honorable mention. At Cooper Beech Elementary School, Madelyn Hill earned an honorable mention for her poster “Eye Color Connection” and Lauren O’Malley and Thomas O’Malley won an honorable mention for their poster “Pull Over.” At Highland Elementary School, winning honorable mentions were Michelle Kim, Ayana Ward, and Mesa Lion for their poster “Are You Smarter Than a Third Grader?” as well as Samantha Gill, Noah Hellerslia, Cristian Hinkel, Jeremy Jones, Robert Parker, Lila Ruch, Noelle Thomas, and Amy Wang for their poster “All About Thanksgiving.” At McKinley Elementary School, Patrick Delaney won an honorable mention for his poster “Shark Attack” and Phoebe Lee won a fourth place certificate, commemorative t-shirt, and monetary prize for her poster “Daily Use of Electronic Devices.” At Overlook Elementary School seven posters won prizes. Honorable mentions were won by Alexandra Paul for the poster, “What Do Third Graders Like To Do At Recess?”; Sebastian Botero for the poster, “Kids vs. Adults – Recycling Knowledge”; the team of Connor Penderghest and Owen Waldron for their poster “Age and Goals of Barclay’s Premiere League Strikers”; Oscar Hoffman for the poster, “Popularity of Original Greek Olympians in American Pop Culture”; Madeline Krassner for the poster, “Does Temperature of Hot Cocoa or the Type of Hot Cocoa Affect the Melting Speed of a Marshmallow?”; Lily Castiglione and Sonceria Toliver for the poster, “Never Refuse to ReUse.” Winning third place and awarded a certificate, a monetary prize, and a commemorative t-shirt, Corey Tobin for the poster, “Paper Towels.” All winning posters from each state are entered in the American Statistical Association Poster Contest and Overlook student Corey Tobin’s poster placed Third of all entries submitted from across the country; he is awarded a plaque and a $100 prize for his poster “Paper Towels.” At Rydal Elementary School, honorable mentions were won by Elena Jadach for the poster, “Don’t Miss the Bus”; Evelyn Eisenstein and Giana Dias for the poster, “Reality Check”; and Maximilian Farma for the poster, “Does Heart Rate Change with Exercise, Gender, or Age?” Awarded second place and receiving a certificate, a monetary award, and a commemorative t-shirt, Giovanni Corabi for the poster, “Stop at the Sign or Get a Fine.” Ms. Ashley Garrett’s second grade class collaborated and was awarded a second place award, a shared monetary award, and commemorative t-shirts for the poster “Teeth Stains.” The winning Rydal posters advanced to the American Statistical Association’s Poster Contest, where Giovanni Corabi won an honorable mention and plaque for his poster “Stop at the Stop Sign or Get a Fine.”
In the Atlantic Pacific Mathematics Competition the Abington Junior High School team placed FIRST in the region and receives a team plaque, which was accepted last night on behalf of the team by team high scorer Joshua Coleman.
The Pennsylvania Mathematics League is a statewide competition where students answer questions from different areas of mathematics. The goal is to encourage student interest and confidence in mathematics through solving rigorous, worthwhile problems. The McKinley Grade 6 Team placed FIRST in Montgomery County, earning an engraved plaque.
The Math Fax Competition is a national contest that consists of a series of written tests administered by grade level to the students during the course of the school year. Abington students participate in the grade 3 competition. This year a Copper Beech student has won FIRST place at both the National and Division levels; awarded MathFax trophies and certificates is Tori Barson. Also, the third grade McKinley Elementary School team won a FIRST place award in the Division/State levels and receives an engraved plaque.
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. In the individual awards category, gold pins are awarded to students who finish in the top 2 percent. Silver pins are awarded to students finishing in the next 8% of all participants. The most prestigious individual award given in this competition is the George Lenchner Award, a medallion that is named for the founder of the competition. This medallion is presented to any student who achieves a perfect score for the entire year. This year Abington students won 78 silver pins, 6 gold pins, and one Lenchner Award. Honored last night were gold pin recipients: Joy Mwaria from Willow Hill Elementary School; Spencer Armon and Quinlan Finamore from Highland Elementary School; Albert Hatton from McKinley Elementary School; Valerie Neske from Roslyn Elementary School, and Claire Hayes from Rydal Elementary School. In addition, Quinlan Finamore from Highland won the Lechner Medallion for a perfect score, accomplished by less than one-half of one percent of all participants. The Highland, Rydal, and McKinley Grade 6 teams received Highest Team Achievement Plaques awarded to teams scoring in the highest 10% worldwide and the Roslyn Grade 6 team received the Certificate of Achievement awarded to teams scoring in the highest 11-20% worldwide.
Dr. Mendez concluded the mathematics awards ceremony by recognizing and thanking family members and staff who assisted in developing Abington’s outstanding students and the Board of School Directors for its continuing support of our quality mathematics program.