For the second consecutive year, all South Orange-Maplewood School District middle schoolers were invited to compete in three math contests: the American Mathematics Contest 8 (AMC 8), MathCounts, and Mathematical Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools (MOEMS Division M). Math team coaches Mr. Marc Kessler of Maplewood Middle School (MMS) and Ms. Elizabeth LiPuma of South Orange Middle School (SOMS) coached the 109 and 84 students, respectively, who participated in at least one contest at their schools.
Bringing these competitions to the middle schools was a community effort that was made possible by the support of Principal Dara Gronau of MMS, Principal Lynn Irby-Hill of SOMS, the work of coaches Marc Kessler and Elizabeth LiPuma, and parent volunteers who served as proctors and helped coordinate efforts behind the scenes. The contest fees were funded by anonymous donors.
These contests encourage students to explore math beyond the classroom as they grapple with difficult mathematical puzzles. These challenges 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 Math Olympiad, only 105 out of 18,762 contestants (less than 0.56%) worldwide earned a perfect score in the 6th-8th grade division. In this year’s AMC 8, a score of 17 out of 25 was sufficient to place among the top 5% of 139,000 contestants worldwide.
The following summary of outcomes for each competition were presented for recognition by the Board of Education in June.
Maplewood Middle School
Of the 56 MMS students who participated in the AMC 8, Evan Waller (8th grade) placed first, Abraham Hoffmann (8th grade) placed second, and Gavin Lubomski (8th grade) tied Nora Sinclair (7th grade) for third. Evan Waller also received the Honor Roll Certificate for scoring in the top 5%.
The MathCounts School Competition drew 71 contestants from MMS. The top four school finishers – Abraham Hoffmann (8th grade), Ethan Lewars (8th grade), Brandon Schiff (8th grade), and Ted Masino (8th grade) – comprised the MMS team for the North Central New Jersey Chapter Competition. The next eight finishers also qualified to advance to the Chapter level as individuals: Luke Hall (8th grade), Gavin Lubomski (8th grade), Jeremy Crawford (8th grade), Max Ginsberg (8th grade), Charlie Fleischer (8th grade), Ruby Colvin (7th grade), Bea Lombardi (7th grade), Rowan/Andro Gries (8th grade). Additionally, Deven V. (6th grade) competed as an alternate.
The Math Olympiad contest consisted of 5 rounds spanning several months, with 85 MMS students participating in at least one of the rounds. Scores were cumulative, with Abraham Hoffmann (8th grade) receiving the Highest Individual Scorer trophy for first place at MMS and a silver pin for finishing in the top 10% among the 18,762 contestants worldwide.
South Orange Middle School
Of the 57 SOMS students who participated in the AMC 8, Isabelle Archer (8th grade) placed first, Theo Archer (8th grade) and Noah Trokenheim (7th grade) tied for second, and Caleb Rubinstein (7th grade) and Penuel Shapiro (8th grade) tied for fourth. Isabelle Archer, Theo Archer, and Noah Trokenheim also received the Honor Roll Certificate for scoring in the top 5%. The top three scores summed to 52 (out of 75), earning SOMS the School Certificate of Merit for demonstrating outstanding proficiency by scoring above 50.
The MathCounts School Competition drew 48 competitors from SOMS. The top four finishers – Noah Trokenheim (7th grade), Theo Archer (8th grade), Isabelle Archer (8th grade), and Caleb Rubinstein (7th grade) – comprised the SOMS team for the North Central New Jersey Chapter Competition, and placed 4th out of 22 teams. The next eight finishers also qualified to advance to the Chapter level as individuals: Zane Merriweather (8th grade), Arjun Clifford (7th grade), Boyce Liu (7th grade), Mark Urusov (8th grade), Julien Khaw-Briot (7th grade), Preston Denis (8th grade), Evelyn Choi (8th grade), and Nathaniel Kraemer (8th grade). Additionally, Jack Solgan (8th grade) competed as an alternate.
The Math Olympiad contest consisted of five rounds spanning several months, with 60 SOMS students participating in at least one of the rounds. Scores were cumulative, with Isabelle Archer (8th grade) receiving the Highest Individual Scorer trophy for first place at SOMS and the George Lenchner Award for a perfect score, achieved by only 105 of the 18,762 contestants worldwide (top 0.56%). Isabelle Archer and Noah Trokenheim (7th grade) won a Gold Math Olympiad logo pin for scoring in the top 2% among the 18,762 contestants worldwide. Theodore Archer (8th grade) and Caleb Rubinstein (7th grade) won Silver Math Olympiad logo pins for scoring in the top 10%.
These four students, along with Joshua Akiode (8th grade), Zane Merriweather (8th grade), Penuel Shapiro (8th grade), Teagan Fineman (7th grade), Boyce Liu (7th grade), and Parker Howell (8th grade) formed the SOMS team, earning the High Achievement Certificate for scoring in the top 20% of all teams.
Photos (4)
MMS math contest awards ceremony (not all pictured)
SOMS math contestants (not all pictured)
Top SOMS and MMS MathCounts students who participated in the North Central New Jersey Chapter Competition
SOMS students hard at work on Math Olympiad
