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Indiana’s Top Young Problem Solvers Coming to Campus for State MATHCOUNTS Championships
March 9, 2012
Indiana's future leaders in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) career fields will showcase their
problem-solving skills on Saturday, March 10, as Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology hosts the Indiana MATHCOUNTS
championships. The event is sponsored by the Indiana Society
of Professional Engineers (ISPE) to promote mathematics
achievement.
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Talented Mathletes: MATHCOUNTS is
an educational program that encourages eighth-, seventh- and
sixth-grade students to be proficient in mathematical problem
solving. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology will be hosting
the Indiana MATHCOUNTS competition on Saturday. |
More than 200 eighth-, seventh- and sixth-grade students from 44
schools throughout Indiana will compete in three rounds of
competition testing individual and team-working skills. Then,
the top 24 students will showcase their speed and accuracy in a
game show-type Countdown Round.
Schools that historically have done well in the state
competition include the Sycamore School, from Indianapolis; Honey
Creek Middle School, from Terre Haute; West Lafayette Junior/Senior
High School, from West Lafayette; Carmel Middle School, from
Carmel; Seymour Middle School, from Seymour; and Schmucker Middle
School, from Mishawaka.
The top six schools will receive team awards. The top four
students will make up Indiana's team that will compete in the
national MATHCOUNTS finals on May 10-13 at Walt Disney World near
Orlando, Florida. Indiana's team has consistently been a top
contender in the national finals.
"Indiana has some of the best young minds in the country, and
MATHCOUNTS is just one academic competition that showcases our
outstanding students," states Rose-Hulman Mathematics Professor
Elton Graves, who is helping organize this year's state
competition. "Youths that compete in MATHCOUNTS have gone
onto become Indiana's 'Mr./Miss Math', 'Mr./Miss Science' and
compete on the U.S. team in the International Mathematics
Olympiad."
Indiana MATHCOUNTS contest coordinators are professional
engineers Patricia J. Behrens and Gary S. Staats. Other ISPE
members and college professors serve as regional contest
coordinators.
MATHCOUNTS was developed as a positive and rewarding solution to
reversing the problem of math illiteracy and as a way to make
parents, educators and the public aware of career opportunities in
mathematics. The program impacts these student "mathletes" at
an age when they are formulating attitudes about math and
technology, and encouraging them for math or engineering
careers. It also provides an opportunity to bring
middle-school students together to prompt a lively exchange of
mathematical ideas through competition.
The first three rounds of the Indiana MATHCOUNTS competition
will take place from 10 a.m. to noon in the field house area of
Rose-Hulman's Sports and Recreation Center. The Countdown
Round will be in the Hatfield Hall Theater, starting at 1:30
p.m.
Find out more about MATHCOUNTS at http://mathcounts.org.