Huntington's Proud Math
Olympiad Tradition
The Huntington School District's fifth and sixth grade Math Olympiad teams are just as competitive as any Blue Devil athletic squad. The groups participate in weekly practices and advance to the Suffolk math tournament held at Stony Brook University each spring.
The Math Olympiad teams are under the SEARCH (Scholastic Enrichment and Resource for the Children in Huntington) program umbrella. Maryann Daly, SEARCH chairperson and teacher has coached the Math Olympiad teams for the past 25 years.
SEARCH students are required to meet high standards to participate in the Math Olympiad. From that large group of students, Mrs. Daly takes the top five scorers from both the fifth and sixth grade teams and supervises extra weekly practices. She bring those youngsters with her as Huntington's representatives in the Suffolk competition next May.
"These children will compete in individual and team events against over 40 other schools in Suffolk County," Mrs. Daly said. "For the past three years, Huntington children have medaled (first and second place) and won trophies in the team and individual competitions."
For the past ten years, Mrs. Daly has also nominated a large number of her fifth and sixth grade Math Olympiad students for a two-hour exam at SUNY College at Old Westbury that qualifies the top test scorers for participation in the Institute of Creative Problem Solving.
"This prestigious program accepts only 75 of the top students from Nassau and Suffolk County school districts," Mrs. Daly said. The students who meet the Institute's qualifications are recognized as "Long Island Math Scholars" and invited to attend 20 free Saturday morning math classes held throughout the school year.
"These classes are conducted by college math professors and administrators highly regarded in this field," Mrs. Daly said. Each year, Huntington school children are accepted into this program. Miranda Nykolyn and Tyler Conforti are this year's Long Island Math Scholars and are currently attending classes.
Some of Huntington's recent Math Scholars include Alexandra Koumas, Sam Latt, Leigh Anderson, Alex Castillo, Christian Jamison, Dan Gallagher, Alexis Weitzner, Sarah Cerezo, Caitlyn Knowles and Adam Cerini.
Huntington fourth graders who qualify are also in for a special educational math treat. The youngsters will be taught problem solving strategies and be exposed to Math Olympiad-type problems by veteran teacher Christina Gottlieb, a returning Huntington educator who is well-known to many district parents and students. She will also be teaching some Woodhull Intermediate School fifth grade SEARCH clasases.