Huntington Teams at Top of Suffolk Math Tournament
Two five-member teams of Huntington School District fifth grade students finished near the top of their division in the Suffolk County Math Tournament held on the Stony Brook University campus.
The youngsters are participants in the district’s Math Olympiad program under Maryann Daly, SEARCH chairperson-teacher. Mrs. Daly has been bringing her top five scoring sixth grade Math Olympiad students from both Woodhull and Jack Abrams intermediate schools to the Suffolk competition for many years, but this spring decided to also enter the top five fifth grade scorers from both schools, too.
The Jack Abrams School fifth graders included Dawson Wallace (captain), Christopher Burton, Bradley Landberg, Joseph Natoli and Thomas Pandolfi. The Woodhull School fifth grade team consisted of Steve Yeh (captain), Antony Emmanuele, Justin Knowles, Cloe Stevens and Jacob Strieb.
The Jack Abrams School sixth grade team included Summer Hushion (captain), Cole Blackburn, Jack Gallagher, Alexandra Koumas (who competed in a tie-breaker round for the top ten individual scores) and Sam Latt. The Woodhull School sixth grade squad consisted of Richard Garger (captain), Ethan Dwyer, Aaron Feltman, Thomas Kopstein and Elisa Medina-Jaudes.
The 20 students met during their lunch/recess period each week with Mrs. Daly for nearly two months, practicing with other members of their respective team. “Many a day the temptation was to go outside and join their friends at recess but instead, they honed their problem solving skills,” Mrs. Daly said. Near the end of the long practice period each team elected a captain to lead them into “battle.”
Huntington’s representatives vied against 42 teams from across Suffolk with Mrs. Daly and elementary school teachers Heather Barfuss, Keith Meyers and Christina Gottlieb serving as team supervisors for the day.
The tournament was divided into two parts; an individual segment that required each student to solve 10 Math Olympiad problems in 30 minutes followed by a team event where each squad had to collaboratively solve another ten problems within 20 minutes.
With a crowd of more than 250 sitting on the edge their seats, officials announced Huntington’s two fifth grade teams finished 2-3 in the grades 4-5 division, with the Jack Abrams School squad placing second and its counterpart from Woodhull coming in third. The two teams were separated by a single point.
“I always know our students are great problem solvers and it is again reinforced when I bring them to events where they are now competing with the top math students from all over Suffolk,” Mrs. Daly said. “For the third year, Huntington students have triumphed.”
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