M.A.T.H. Bowl team third in state

Since November, 39 students at Noblesville Intermediate School have been spending extra time after school tackling advanced math assignments.

On March 14, their hard work paid off.

The students, members of their school?s M.A.T.H. Bowl team, won first place in area competition at Hamilton Southeastern?s Sand Creek Elementary School and third place statewide.

"We are so excited!" exclaimed Coach Mary Ridenour, a fifth-grade teacher. "We finished 17th a year ago and our goal this year was to finish in the top 10."

M.A.T.H. Bowl is a statewide competition sponsored by the Indiana Academic Competitions for Excellence. M.A.T.H. stands for Math Academic Teams for Hoosiers.

On tournament day, teams are assigned to a number of sites around the state. Other Hamilton County teams that competed at Sand Creek were the host school, plus HSE?s Fall Creek Intermediate School and Carmel?s College Wood Elementary School.

Fifty-five schools statewide competed with NIS in Division 1, the division for the largest schools. Loogootee and Northwestern Elementary School finished first and second. Although the state?s top two schools correctly answered the same number of questions - 26 of 28 - as NIS, each one correctly answered a more difficult question that NIS missed, and that placed them higher in the standings.

Although 39 students have trained since November, only 16 may compete at M.A.T.H. Bowl. The contest is divided into four rounds of seven questions, and three students represent NIS at a time. Four students are designated as alternates.

As competition gets under way, questions are projected onto a screen and read by an announcer. Four answers are suggested.

The problems they are given to solve are difficult for students this age, Miss Ridenour said. An example:
Alec is having a party. He knows that there will be about fifty-nine people at the party. Cakes that are twelve inches by twelve inches are the least expensive per serving. How many 12-inch cakes must he order so that each person will get a four inch by four inch serving?

For this example, the three students at each school?s table have 45 seconds to work together to find the answer.

"This is what school is all about," said Miss Ridenour of her team?s outstanding performance in an academic competition.

She compares what her team has accomplished to the high school basektball or football team winning third at state competition.

"We train from November to March to be ready," she said.