Good evening.
Wishing everyone a Happy Easter and a Happy Passover.
This morning more than 800 students from 50+ BPS crammed our three halls to compete in t
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| 800 Students Get Ready to Begin . |
he first-ever citywide math competition. Students from around the city from grades 3 through 12 came to show off their math skills in the first-time citywide competition. The number of students exceeded by far the anticipated attendance leading to a few unavoidable delays in the event’s logistics.
Upwards of 75 teachers attended the event after working with their students in preparation for this event for the last few weeks The topics covered in the exam included areas in math from arithmetic through algebra II and geometry. We thank our teachers for their hard work.
Mayor Thomas Menino and Superintendent Carol Johnson joined BTU President Richard Stutman in welcoming the students, who were both enthusiastic and excited to compete in the competition. All students who attended received ribbons and certificates of completion, signed by the mayor, the superintendent and the BTU president. (Students who did not get their ribbons and/or their certificates will get them at a later date. The teacher in charge of the team is asked to email hereto arrange for delivery of the items, which will be mailed from the BTU office.
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| The Murphy Warms Up |
25 elementary schools competed. The scores of the top finishers are listed below by weighted averages. The first score in the team competition represents the average individual score. The second adds the value of the group problem total.
- Warren Prescott 8.54 + 4 = 12.54
- Harvard Kent 8.125 + 3.5 = 11.625
- Rafael Hernandez 7.4 + 4 = 11.4
- Kilmer 7.75 + 3 = 10.75
- Roosevelt 7.84 + 2.5 = 10.34
The highest performing elementary students were:
- Amanda Chen 24 points from the Harvard-Kent
- Alan Zhang 23 points from the Warren Prescott
- Cale Henning 22 points from the Roosevelt
- Ethan Liu 22 points from the Warren Prescott
- Talia Bode-Ward 21 points from the Rafael Hernandez
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| Students Take a Break Btwn. Sessions |
We thank and commend all students for their participation. Scores from the middle school and high school level will be released shortly.
All students and their teacher-coaches will receive a special commemorative T-Shirt. If your school did not submit its order form, please do so here.
Four teachers in particular are to be thanked for their help–Marisa Bober of West Roxbury HS, Michael Sheehan of South Boston, Ellen Latham of Umana, and Maura McDonough from the Harvard Kent. Each drafted problems for the event and helped in the organization. Many others helped immeasurably during the event, and we thank them. We also thank Linda Davenport and Sherry Sajdak from the Math Office, as well as Willeka Green also from the Math Office, who provided great assistance in the organization of this event.
This was a great event only hampered by its sudden popularity. Next time around it promises to be better organized. Outside of that, it was quite heartening to watch students be excited about an academic subject. Thank you again to all who participated, and congratulations to our wonderful students. The Boston Teachers Union and its membership were proud to sponsor and underwrite this event.
(photos by Angela Cristiani)