Antilles School students — Ronit Totwani, Julien Loewenstein, Ariel Paul and Aisha Khenani — will represent the U.S. Virgin Islands in the 2019 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Championship slated for May 12-13, in Orlando, Fla. The students earned the top scores in both the Sprint and Target rounds combined at the State MATHCOUNTS competition held on Thursday, March 28, at the University of the Virgin Islands Great Hall on St. Croix. Michele Humphries of Antilles School will coach the team.
The competition included a Sprint round when students are given 40 minutes to complete 30 math problems; the Target round, comprised of four pairs of problems in which students have six minutes each to finish; and the Team round, which allows teams of four 20 minutes to complete ten problems.
The Antilles school team placed first in the Team Round and the Good Hope Country Day School, placed second.
The student mathletes were from the Antilles School, Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School, Good Hope Country Day, Church of God Holiness Academy and the John H. Woodson Junior High School.
The state competition is organized by math coordinators Juanita Boneque in the St. Croix District and Avon Benjamin in the St. Thomas-St. John District.
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Math Video Challenge
This year, the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School (BCB) entered the Math Video Challenge. Their video, #VI Strong, is one of four finalists out of over 250 video submissions.
Taragee Gumbs, Ciara Rodney, Malik Francis and Gloria Lugo, along with their coach Mark Joseph Sy, created a 5-minute video that depicts a real-life scenario where the school is affected by the aftermath of two Category 5 hurricanes in just two weeks.
The video description reads, “The Addelita Cancryn Junior High School was declared condemned, and BCB Middle School, which stood strong from hurricanes Irma and Maria, will welcome students from Cancryn. The principal needs to file a report of the overall increase in enrollment to get support from the local government and FEMA. Teachers from BCB Middle School will all work together to solve the problem.”
The video also showcases the beauty of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the background music is an original arrangement from the school’s Flambo Combo.
The Blazers will present the video to the 224 National MATHCOUNTS competitors, and those students will vote on one winner. The winning team will receive recognition, a trophy and a $1,000 college scholarship for each student.
The Math Video Challenge empowers students to take their math and problem-solving skills to the next level with a creative video project. Students work together in teams of four to create a video that explains the solution to a MATHCOUNTS handbook problem and demonstrates a real-world application of the mathematics concept explored in the problem.
Combining art, writing, math, acting and technology, this program makes learning math interactive and fun for all students. Additionally, students can win great prizes for participating and advancing in the contest. Created in 2011, the program is open to students in grades 6-8.
MATHCOUNTS is a national program designed to improve math skills among U.S. students. The program focuses on middle school students who are at a crucial stage in developing and sustaining math interest and ability.
Local sponsors of MATHCOUNTS include the Virgin Islands Department of Education, Rotary Club of St. Thomas I & II and Rotary Club Mid-Isle St. Croix.
