Students will square off in MATHCOUNTS

Staff report

youngstown

About 250 students from 25 middle and junior high schools will participate in the 2011 MATHCOUNTS competition Feb. 10 on the campus of Youngstown State University.

The competition is sponsored jointly by the Mahoning Valley Society of Professional Engineers and YSU’s William Rayen School of Engineering and Engineering Technology in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

MATHCOUNTS, in its 28th consecutive year, is a national program designed to improve math skills among U.S. students by making math achievement as challenging, exciting and prestigious as a school sport.

Teachers and students have been preparing for the competition since the fall, and after several months of coaching, participating schools select students to compete individually or as part of a team in written and fast-paced oral matches.

The top three teams plus the top six individuals from the local competition advance to the state competition in Columbus on March 12. The top-four finishers in the state competition will represent Ohio in the national finals in Washington, D.C., from May 5-8.

The local contest begins at 9 a.m. in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center on the YSU campus.

During the morning’s written component, teams of four students, as well as individual competitors from each school, will answer a variety of questions that include topics covering probability, statistics, linear algebra and polynomials. The afternoon Mathbowl competition begins at 2:15 p.m. and follows a game-show format as teams of students from each school answer math questions.

The final event is the Countdown Round, sponsored and funded locally by YSU Arby’s Restaurant. The Countdown Round features a head-to-head competition among the top 16 contestants.

Awards will be presented at a banquet beginning at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 22, at A la Cart Catering in Canfield. The guest speaker will be Trumbull County Engineer David DeChristofaro.

John Ritter, YSU professor emeritus of Civil Engineering, coordinates the regional program. Major funding for the local program is provided by Dominion East Ohio and the Davis Foundation.

Participating schools include St. Joseph/Immaculate Heart of Mary and St. Charles, Heartland Christian, St. Rose and Holy Family schools, Austintown, Boardman Center, Boardman Glenwood, Canfield, Crestview, East Palestine, Reed, Joseph Badger, Poland, Howland and W.S. Guy middle schools and LEAD Academy, Lisbon David Anderson Jr./Sr. High School, Willow Creek Learning Center, Jefferson K-8 School, John F. Kennedy Jr./Sr. High School, Lincoln School, McGuffey School, Willard K-8 School and Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley.