Discovery Middle School takes home first place at HU Math Competition

Discovery Middle School of Granger, Ind., took home first place in the annual Huntington University Middle School Mathematics Competition on April 13. 

Twenty-three area middle schools competed for individual and team awards while demonstrating their mathematical abilities. The goal of the competition is to support and encourage the efforts of students seeking to achieve in mathematics. For the team competition, Discovery Middle School from Granger captured first place, Northridge Middle School of Middlebury took second place and St. Joseph Grade School from South Bend took third place.

For the individual competition, Seunghoon Sun, an eighth grader from Discovery Middle School, captured first place. Joey Garberick, an eighth grader from Northridge Middle School, earned second place. Third place was decided by a two-way tie-breaking question between Wilson Wang and Avery Mantyla, both from Northridge Middle School, with Wang edging out Mantyla.

“We were pleased to have approximately 200 middle school students and teachers on-campus for the contest,” said Dr. Jeff Lehman, professor of computer science. “This is a great opportunity for middle school students to apply their mathematics skills. The contest also allows our mathematics and computer science students to gain experience organizing and directing large events.”

The mathematics competition is made up of three rounds. The first round is a 20-question written exam comprised of questions from algebra, geometry and general mathematics. Students can earn a total of 100 points for the exam. The individual round of the competition is made up of 10 questions. Students are given a minute and a half to complete each question. Each question answered correctly earns a student 10 points. The final round, the team round, provides additional points for the team score. Students are provided with several problems that are more challenging and best solved through the cooperative efforts of the team. A total of 50 points is possible for the final round.

Schools competing include: Bremen Middle School, Churubusco Jr. High School, Concordia Lutheran Elementary School, Crestview Middle School, Crestview Middle School (OH), Discovery Middle School, Eastbrook Jr. High, Emmaus Lutheran School, Frankfort Middle School, Holy Cross (Fort Wayne), Holy Cross (South Bend), Lakeland Middle School, Lakeview Middle School, Milford Middle School, Northridge Middle School, Pope John Paul II Middle School, Saint Aloysius, Saint Paul Catholic School, St. Joseph Grade School, St. Mary's School, St. Thomas the Apostle School, Tecumseh Middle School (MI), and Wawasee Middle School.

Huntington University student Hosanna Burr, a sophomore mathematics education major form Columbia, Missouri, served as the student coordinator. The competition was overseen by Dr. Brian Rice, Dr. Dan Dobbs and Dr. Jeff Lehman from the mathematics and computer science department at HU.