Math Masters dominate competition

Posted on: Apr 12, 2022

Delano Math Masters students dominated a competition in Hutchinson on Thursday, March 10, sweeping first, second, third and fourth place out of 20 competing teams from seven different schools.

The first-place team consisted of Sienna Clare, Max Schmit, Landon Lundquist, Landon Ellingson and Brady Blank-Martin.

Schmit also took first place out of 95 students in Fact Drill, and Harper Bukowski finished first out of 95 students in the Individual Round.

The top 12 individuals in Fact Drill took home awards, and seven of those individuals were Delano students. In addition to Schmit’s top finish, other Delano award-winners included Bukowski, Clare, Ella Jepma, Dane Loecken, Grant Bruett, Rowan Johnson and Ellingson. 

Aside from Bukowski’s first-place finish in the Individual Round, Delano students won 11 of the 15 individual awards. Others winning awards included Paige Heimark, Garrett Anderson, Henry Becker, Ellingson, Jepma, Lincoln Hanson, Brevin Aamodt, Blank-Martin, Nathan Mullen, Zeke Schwehr and Schmit. 
Additional Delano teams took ninth place, 12th place and 13th place. In all, Delano won seven of 13 total team events.

The event involved three hours of competition.

“We waited a short time for the results and everyone was so nervous,” said sixth-grade math teacher and Math Masters coach Natalie Palmer. “When the results came in, Ms. O’Donnell and I were nothing short of shocked. … I still can’t believe how well we did. It was an incredibly happy bus drive home and we sang the Circle Song part of the way to celebrate.”

Preparation pays off
This year all sixth-grade students in Palmer’s first-hour Advanced Math class participated in Math Masters, a program that challenges students to use critical thinking and math skills to solve novel problems. 

“I was apprehensive about this year’s competition because of the negative effects of the coronavirus vs. time spent in school; however, it was also evident that this group was hard-working and had strong support from their parents,” said Palmer. “These students give their best every day in class, and also exhibit a consistently positive attitude. Our mornings are very intense, but we also laugh a lot together.” 

Some level of preparation began taking place from the first day of the school year.

“Every day in the morning we’d do three questions,” said Jepma, who earned awards in both Fact Drill and the Individual Round. “We’d try to get them as fast as we can, and then we’d run up to Ms. Palmer who was standing on the side of the room to show her. She would only take so many students to get it right, and you wanted to get it right because that just makes you feel good about yourselves.”

On Fridays students would troop down to the flex lab and meet with Gifted and Talented instructor Heidi O’Donnell. The focus was to apply mathematics to real-life scenarios and fields like architecture. In January they began focusing their efforts more directly on the upcoming Math Masters competition.

“The kids LOVED solving the challenging problems under time limits, and often the action in our room was pretty similar to a state hockey event (insert ear plugs),” said Palmer. 

Enthusiastic problem solvers
What do the participating students appreciate about the subject?

“I like it because math is more exact than reading, where there can be different answers,” said Schmit, the Fact Drill champion.

Individual Round award-winner Schwehr agreed.

“I like math because there are no opinions. It’s right answer or wrong answer, and there’s only one right answer,” he said. “I’m excited that I actually get to compete using math, because I’m very competitive.”

This year’s competition was the first time students had an opportunity to compete in person, though some did participate in a virtual event last year.
Clare, a first-place team member and award-winner in the Face Drill, said she enjoyed more personal side of things this year.

“I like that you get to compete against other teams from other schools, and you also get to compete with your team,” she said.

All students agreed that their teachers have made the experience a fun way to learn.

“Palmer makes it really fun, just the way she teaches,” said Jepma. “She makes it exciting. When she helps you get something you haven’t done before it just makes you feel really good about yourself and you get this feeling of satisfaction, which I really like.”

“She makes it simple and easy to understand how to do it,” agreed Clare.

Benefits
Math may focus on quantifying issues, but Palmer said the experience of preparing and competing has plenty of intangible advantages as well.

“The benefits of Math Masters are immeasurable,” she said. “Students learn that mathematics is pretty cool, that many students are math-minded like themselves, and I heard many of them excitedly talking about joining math clubs or Math League as they enter Delano High School. They also learn to work as a group on a project and push each other to give their best effort.”

This year’s competitive performance will certainly be memorable, but Palmer said she will also recall the camaraderie among this group as another highlight.

“Our class has become a very tightly knit group; I appreciate how they applaud each other for a correct answer and how they eagerly reach out to help one another when needed,” she said. “I’m going to miss them so much when they go to the high school, (but I say that every year about all my kids).”
 

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