From a district parent:
In the 2021-2022 school year, all SOMSD middle schoolers were invited to compete in three math contests: the American Mathematics Contest 8 (AMC 8), MathCounts, and Math Olympiad. These math contests encourage students to explore math as they solve interesting real-world applications. The problems stretch the students’ minds, inducing many to talk regularly about math outside the contests as they develop new insights. All three contests are designed to be extremely challenging, even for the best students. For example, in the AMC 8, only 131 out of 71,113 contestants (less than 0.2%) nationwide earned a perfect score, and the median score was 9 out of 25.
Bringing these competitions to the middle schools was a full community effort that was made possible with the permission and support of Principal Gronau of Maplewood Middle School (MMS), Principal Irby of South Orange Middle School (SOMS), the HSAs, parent volunteers, and anonymous donors who covered all of the contest fees. Math teachers Mr. Marc Kessler of MMS and Ms. Elizabeth LiPuma of SOMS coached the 82 and 101 students, respectively, who participated in at least one contest at their schools.
The following summary of outcomes for each competition will be presented for recognition by the Board of Education at their June meeting.
Maplewood Middle School
Of the 48 MMS students who participated in the AMC 8, Abraham Hoffman (7th grade) placed first and Owen Shubart (8th grade) tied Henry Spielberg (6th grade) for second, followed by Hunter Eggert (8th grade). Abraham Hoffman also received the Honor Roll Certificate for scoring in the top 5% and Henry Spielberg received the Certificate of Achievement, awarded to 6th graders who score 15 or higher out of a maximum 25. The top three scores summed to 53 (out of 75), earning MMS the School Certificate of Merit for demonstrating outstanding proficiency by scoring above 50.
The MathCounts School Competition drew 46 contestants from MMS. The top four finishers – Abraham Hoffman (7th grade), Taylor Barnes (8th grade), Nathaniel Greenberg (8th grade), and Hunter Eggert (8th grade) – comprised the MMS team for the North Central New Jersey Chapter Competition. The next 8 finishers advanced to the Chapter level as individuals: Katelyn Chan (8th grade), Alice Cohen (8th grade), Anna Cooper (8th grade), Kevin Roth Deves (8th grade), Aidan Heindl (8th grade), Charlie Knutsen (8th grade), Angelo Lynch (8th grade), and Henry Spielberg (6th grade).
The Math Olympiad contest consisted of 5 rounds spanning several months, with 46 MMS students participating in at least one of the rounds. Scores were cumulative, with Hunter Eggert (8th grade) receiving the Highest Individual Scorer trophy for first place at MMS.
MMS math celebration and awards ceremony (not all pictured)
South Orange Middle School
Of the 57 SOMS students who participated in the AMC 8, Noah Trokenheim (6th grade) placed first, Corinne Arnold-Berkovits (8th grade) placed second, and Noah Akinnuoye (8th grade) and Isabelle Archer (7th grade) tied for third. Noah Trokenheim also received the Honor Roll Certificate for scoring in the top 5% and the Certificate of Achievement, awarded to 6th graders who score 15 or higher out of a maximum 25. The top three scores summed to 53 (out of 75), earning SOMS the School Certificate of Merit for demonstrating outstanding proficiency by scoring above 50.
The MathCounts School Competition drew 61 competitors from SOMS. The top four finishers – Theo Archer (7th grade), Noah Trokenheim (6th grade), Isabelle Archer (7th grade), and Corinne Arnold-Berkovits (8th grade) – comprised the SOMS team for the North Central New Jersey Chapter Competition. The next 8 finishers advanced to the Chapter level as individuals: Noah Akinnuoye (8th grade), Parker Howell (7th grade), Jazzy Lyons (7th grade), Zane Merriweather (7th grade), Saanvi Rohatgi (8th grade), Caleb Rubinstein (6th grade), Caroline Shaw (8th grade), and Gabriel Tarrow (8th grade).
The Math Olympiad contest consisted of five rounds spanning several months, with 75 SOMS students participating in at least one of the rounds. Scores were cumulative, with Isabelle Archer (7th grade) and Theodore Archer (7th grade) receiving Highest Individual Scorer trophies by tying for first place at SOMS. Isabelle Archer, Theodore Archer, and Noah Trokenheim (6th grade) won Math Olympiad logo pins for scoring in the top 10% among the 15,481 contestants.
