By JoANNE VIVIANO

By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Boardman High School junior Holly Holman held her hand out flat in front of her, watching it quiver.
"I'm shaking," she said, a wide smile crossing her face.
"I'm nervous, because I want to win," said junior Chad Henson. "We are trying our hardest."
Then came the next question: "How many of the first 500 positive integers are divisible by 3, 4 and 5?
It didn't take Holly long to solve the problem; senior Alex Fuentes' figuring confirmed the answer.
"Now how did you get that?" asked junior Brian Hoffmaster.
"We pulled into first," said a smiling Tyler Drombosky, also a junior.
The five students' team stayed in first to be named champions of Math Bowl Challenge at Youngstown State University's first Math Fest on Thursday.
As students at the rows of tables around the team hooted and hollered as problems were figured accurately, the Boardman group smiled quietly -- they didn't want to let on that they had missed only two of the first 27 questions.
Dr. Nathan P. Ritchey, chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at YSU, moderated the challenge and wore a smile nearly as big as those on the more than 200 students who solved problems.
"It's amazing. ... It's been wonderful. The kids are so great," he said.
Behind the effort
Ritchey, co-chair of the MathFest event, gave credit for its organization to Dr. Angela Spalsbury, also a co-chair and an assistant professor at YSU.
"We felt the students weren't aware of all the opportunities, the great opportunities, available to them with a career in mathematics and having a MathFest might help students realize how much is out there for them," Ritchey said.
About 260 students from 21 schools in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties attended the event, which offered the Math Bowl Challenge as well as a 10-question Challenge of Champions Test, a Mixed Team Competition, discussions of math careers, and workshops on topics from "Puzzle Solving Strategies" and "The Mathematics of Kicking a Football" to "Mathematics in Biology" and "Fractals are Hiding Everywhere."
Fun in a struggle
Rich Nelson, a Struthers High School senior, competed in the Challenge of Champions Test, where about 25 students worked in silence -- no hoots and hollers here. Although he's aced standardized tests, he struggled a bit. But the challenge is what made it fun.
"I like being around people who are also interested in things I'm interested in and learning things I don't usually learn in the classroom," he said.
Two groups of Champion High School seniors competing in the Math Bowl broke into cheers often, with Maren Kemp high-fiving her teammates as if they'd just scored a soccer goal.
"It's awesome," she said of the event.
"It's very interesting," said Amber Brothag. "Very challenging," added Tiffany Kellet.
"Today, we like math," said a smiling Kelly Meyer.
The questions in Math Bowl were pretty tough, but Jason Black, also a Champion senior, said he enjoyed it.
"It's a new chance to meet new kids and have fun and have something in common," he said.