Huntington Tops in Suffolk Math Tournament
“What’s in the Huntington School District’s water?” That’s a question that was asked more than once after two five-student teams of sixth graders from Woodhull and Jack Abrams intermediate schools finished 1-2 in their division in the Suffolk math tournament at Stony Brook University.
The ten Huntington students are part of the district’s Math Olympiad program. They spent the day matching wits with some of Long Island’s top young minds. In all, nearly 200 fourth, fifth and sixth graders participated on 38 teams representing 25 elementary, intermediate and middle schools and 16 Suffolk districts.
There was an individual competition consisting of completing ten Math Olympiad-type problems during a 30 minute period and a 20-minute team contest involving ten even more complex problems.
Huntington’s Leigh Anderson, Caitlin Knowles, Suzanne Petryk, Elizabeth Corrao and Leah Butz were among 15 contestants that advanced to a tie-breaker round to determine the top ten individual scores among all contestants.
Ms. Anderson walked away with an individual trophy for her impressive effort. Trophies were also carried home by the Woodhull team for its first place finish and by the team from Jack Abrams Intermediate School for its runner-up showing.
The Woodhull team was captained by Ms. Corrao and also included Ms. Butz, Ms. Knowles, Charles Beers and Brandon Mendez. Justin Loturco captained the Jack Abrams School squad, which also included Ms. Anderson, Ms. Petryk, Grady Koepele and Kylie Palmer.
The two Huntington teams were coached by Maryann Daly, a SEARCH teacher and the program’s chairperson. “As their Math Olympiad coach, I was asked by other team leaders what, specifically, was in Huntington School District’s water because these children had performed so well,” she said. “Other student teams offered their congratulations to these young students, which was terrific to experience – all in the name of good sportsmanship and a healthy competitive spirit.”
The event challenged the youngsters to answer higher-level and multi-step math problems by themselves or with their teams. The competition played out in Stony Brook’s Student Activities Center.
“The children were excited about their accomplishments and I was thrilled they received the recognition they so richly deserved,” Mrs. Daly said. “It couldn’t have been better or more impressive for our school district.”
The Huntington students spent the months leading up the Suffolk tournament attending extra practice sessions that ran 40 minutes each. Team members were really “into” it. For example, Ms. Knowles willingly surrendered recess periods to practice with her Woodhull teammates. “Kudos to her for never complaining about it,” Mrs. Daly said.
Teacher Heather Barfuss, who was the Math Olympiad coach at Jack Abrams School last year when she taught in the SEARCH program, accompanied the group to Stony Brook, assisting Mrs. Daly and working with students.
“To sum up this entire experience for these children, all you needed to see was the excitement and enthusiasm coming from all these Huntington students as they returned to their respective buildings,” Mrs. Daly said. “They will continue to succeed because of their perseverance and willingness to be risk-takers! I couldn’t be prouder to be their coach.”
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