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Wilkins reigns as Hilltop Elementary math champ
By ABBY SLANKER
Hilltop Elementary School fourth-grade students entered the math zone and went nose-to-nose to solve math facts to qualify for the school’s annual Math Bee June 4.
As Cathy Mowry, Hilltop Elementary School principal, welcomed the students to the bee, she asked to see a show of hands as to who practiced their math facts. Hands shot up throughout the gym.
“You are all champions. You have improved your ability to be better mathematicians because you practiced,” Mowry said.
The students were lined up by class and paired up one-on-one, shown a multiplication flash card by fourth-grade teachers, and the student who solved the problem the fastest and correctly moved onto the next round.
The students went through several elimination rounds, and were finally whittled down to the final seven contestants. With great enthusiasm, the ‘Super Seven’ were seated at a table on the stage.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, please give a round of applause to your Super Seven,” Mowry exclaimed.
The rules for the seven finalists were as follows: 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 his or her answer, he or she turned the board over to signal their final answer. Dollar signs, decimals and commas had to be correct in the answer, or the problem would be deemed incorrect.
Fourth-grade teachers checked the problems and had final say as to whether the answer was correct. Audience members could play along also, as they were shown the math problem, too.
After several rounds, it came down to the last three contestants. A lightning round was put in place, with the winner being the student who correctly finished the problem first.
Riley Wilkins was first with the correct answer and was declared the winner of the Hilltop Elementary 2011-12 Math Bee. She was crowned the winner by Mowry.
Joe Scolieri was named first runner-up and Prahb Dhaliawal was second runner-up. The three top-placing students were presented Barnes and Noble gift cards courtesy of the Hilltop PTO.
Wilkins, Scolieri and Dhaliawal offered their thoughts on the Math Bee when it was all over. Wilkins said, “Show what you know,” Scolieri said, “Don’t give up” and Dhaliawal said “Practice makes perfect.”