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Congratulations to our homeschool team who took first place in the team rankings out of 18 teams competing at the regional MATHCOUNTS competition.
Our scoring team was co-captained by Matthew Babbitt and Wyatt Smith, and included Preston Law, and Amanda Kettell. Their hard work and diligent problem solving has really paid off resulting in their first place ranking. Our team has now qualified to move on to the state competition.
Matthew, Preston, and Wyatt finished first, second, and third place out of 113 students competing, with 2nd and 3rd place being determined by tie-breaker. Matthew, Preston, and Wyatt participated in the very exciting top-12 countdown round, where Matthew won first place, Wyatt second place, and Preston advanced to the quarter finals.
Erin placed in the top third of competing students yesterday, and as such is our top alternate team student. Erin will be our 5th student who will move on to the state competition.
Our 2nd year veterans Maryanna Krewson and Caleb Trouwborst, along with Amanda and Jien Ogawa, All distinguished themselves by placing at or very near the top half of the participants. It should be pointed out that competing students represent the top 4 to 8 math students in area schools. Further, last year there were 26 teams competing, and this year that number fell to 18. One could easily suggest that our students competed against the top 4 - 8 students, in the top 18 schools in our area for which placing in the middle is no small achievement.
I am very proud of everyone's achievement, and especially everyone's positive attitude. I have noticed that our students have not only acquired new mathematical skill over the past few months, but they have also acquired new friends. The camaraderie between our students is self evident and is delightful to see. Our group of 24 to 30 students who regularly attend our weekly meetings all deserve a special award for their positive attitudes and enthusiasm for the challenging problems that they work on each week.
I would certainly be lost without my student coaches who have all risen to the challenge of helping other students. These fine young men and women all deserve recognition for their selfless efforts on behalf of their students. Lindsay White, Ben Kaiser, Leah Trouwborst, Neil Curwen, Will Spear and Catherine Miller have all worked tirelessly each week with our students not competing at chapter. Luke Trouwborst and Jay White worked to build the abilities of our alternate team. Schuyler Smith, and Zagreb Mukerjee worked to oversee our teams efforts during the run-up to the chapter competition. The scoring and alternate teams received online support through our Art of Problem Solving forum by both Andrew Ardito, David Rolnick, and Schuyler Smith.
I will remember my first chapter competition (as a coach) for the camaraderie of our students, the love of mathematics that they all share, and the enjoyment that was self-evident among our students. I will also remember the number of supportive students and families that came to countdown in the afternoon to cheer on heeg participants.
The collaborative efforts of students working challenging mathematical problems each week is always an inspiration to see. Sometimes the student becomes teacher, sharing insights that may be new or unfamiliar to his/her student coach and fellow students.
Congratulations to all 19 homeschoolers who took on the challenges of spelling in today's 13th annual homeschool spelling bee, demonstrating bravery, poise, and grace.
There were many challenging words in today's bee. Just a sampling of some of the words includes: liverwurst, aristocracy, mantilla, geranium, pumpernickel, sayonara, harpsichord, eureka, caribou, cryptic, simile, filibuster, incognito, enchilada, and thesaurus.
Our spelling bee first place winner was Mandy Kettell and our second place winner was Jien Ogawa. Mandy and Jien are also among the eight students who will represent homeschoolers on the heegMATHCOUNTS team at the MathCounts competition in two weeks.
Mandy and Jien's friendly camaraderie and mutual support during the high-pressure final rounds of the bee was delightful to observe. Many members of the audience told me afterwards how impressed they were with them, and with all our spellers today.
As a group, the entire collection of spellers provided excellent competition and demonstrated an impressive familiarity with the remarkable idiosyncrasies of the English language. The experience of having competed with such a talented group of spellers will be helpful to Mandy as she represents homeschoolers at the next level of the competition.
Mandy will now spell in the Times Union newspaper bee to be held at Proctor's Theater in Schenectady on Monday March 10 at 5 p.m. in Schenectady. The Proctor's bee on March 10 is free and open to the public, so we encourage all homeschool families to come and cheer for Mandy. (It's also fun and educational for audience members, including the adults(!), to try to spell the words with a pencil and pad in their seats.)
The winner of the Proctor's bee will win an all-expenses paid trip to represent the Capital District at the Scripps National Bee in Washington DC in late May, as well as a number of other prizes.
We had a record number of brave homeschool students undertake the AMC8 challenge this year. It was an honor to administer the exam and I am proud of each and everyone who took this very difficult exam.
The top three students from the overall group (14 homeschoolers and 9 strong students from local schools) constitute the AMC8 team for the purposes of team honors.
This year, the top three students in the local administration under the auspices of Albany Area Math Circle were all homeschoolers and their combined score qualified for the National School Honor Roll. The three students on the Albany Area Math Circle AMC8 team are Matthew Babbitt, Preston Law, and Wyatt Smith.
Only three other school teams in New York State achieved this honor this year! The list of AMC8 Honor Roll teams is available here.
In addition to team honors, four homeschooled students won individual honors.
Matthew Babbitt (Gold Award, Perfect Score, High Scorer in NY Award, Certificate of Distinction)
Preston Law & Wyatt Smith tied for the Silver Award. Both also receive a Certificate of Distinction for scoring 21 points or above.
Abigail Trouwborst won the Bronze Award for third place. She will also receive a Merit Roll Certificate, an honor reserved for students in 6th grade and below for scoring 15 points or above. Abigail's performance is especially noteworthy since she is only a 5th grader!
Congratulations to all of the above AND to all who took the challenging AMC8 exam.
