Kalina divides and conquers math competition

Photo

Joey Dundee (left), third-place, Ethan Kalina, first-place, and Luke Seifert, runner-up, were all smiles after the Hilltop Elementary Math Bee June 7.

Photo

Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Ethan Kalina was crowned the Hilltop Elementary 2010 Math Bee champion by Principal Cathy Mowry.

Photo

The “Elite Eight” Math Bee contestants concentrated on solving the math problems they were presented with.

With great enthusiasm, the fourth-graders at Hilltop Elementary went head-to-head to solve math facts to qualify for the school’s annual Math Bee June 7.

The students were paired up one-on-one, shown a math flash card by the fourth-grade teachers, and the student who solved the problem correctly and the fastest, moved on to the next round.

This process went on until the final round in which the remaining contestants were given mental math problems to decide the finalists, and in the end, eight finalists were left standing.

Showing a great amount of concentration, the “Elite Eight” were seated at a table on the stage.

In this stage of the competition, students were shown a math problem and were given a two-minute time limit to solve the problem on a dry erase board.

When the student was comfortable with their answer, they turned the board over to signal their final answer.

Dollar signs, decimals and commas had to be correct in the answer or the answer would be deemed incorrect. One of the fourth-grade teachers checked the problems and had final say as to whether the answer was correct.

Audience members could play along, as they were shown the math problem, too.

The “Elite Eight” was gradually whittled down and in round five, it was down to two contestants — Ethan Kalina and Luke Seifert, with the problem 797 X 95.

Kalina came out on top and was declared the winner of the Hilltop Elementary 2010 Math Bee. He was crowned the winner by Hilltop Elementary School Principal Cathy Mowry.

Seifert was declared runner-up and Joey Dundee placed third. The three top-placing students were presented Barnes and Noble gift cards, courtesy of the Hilltop PTO.