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Vergennes Union Middle School Mathletes Turn In Stellar Season

photo by Photo Provided Coach Sean Nary and his VUMS MathCounts mathletes had a great season and look forward to many more to come!

Tuesday April 14, 2015

By Cookie Steponaitis

Before you reach for your dictionary to see if the word mathletes exists, it doesn’t according to Webster dictionary, but it is very much a descriptive term for anyone venturing into the world of competitive mathematics. Like any athlete, mathletes practice, spend hours perfecting their craft and to into competitions where their individual and team skills are put to the test.
    Coached by Middle School Mathematics teacher Sean Nary, MathCounts is unique in that it exists in all fifty states and in schools worldwide. Designed for students with a talent and passion for mathematics, it is a contest with problems and questions that challenge ever level of mathematician. Prizes, scholarships and awards are offered at each level of competition, including even national and international competition levels. Using three distinct programs, MathCounts involves middle school students of all ability levels and backgrounds and pushes each to new levels using programs MATHCOUNTS, The National Math Club, and the Math Video Challenge.
     Over the past three months VUMS Mathletes, Kai Williams, Leah Croke, Emily Rooney, Erich Reitz, Jackson Hameline, Ian Brons, Sophie Hatch, and Zander Wildasin have been meeting once per week with Coach Nary to prepare for meets and the state championships. Students in Math Counts solve interesting deep-thinking problems of all different sorts.  Many of the problems call for algorithms that students have not yet learned which creates a launching pad to either create their own algorithm or learn some skills before they would have in their regular math program.  Students agree that the problems they solve in Math Counts are more fun than those of their regular class. I believe this to be because the questions are more challenging and the students who join the group are the ones who so often wish their regular math course moved at a faster pace.  
    When the mentally draining State Championship meet in Castleton was ended, UMS mathletes had plenty to be proud of. Kai, Emily, Leah, and Ian qualified for the state tournament when Kai won the overall regional tournament and their VUMS team came in fourth place out of 14 teams.  At the state tournament, hosted by Vermont Technical College, Kai Williams again shined with a fourth place finish that qualified him for the national competition to be held in Boston this May.  
    With states and schools increasing focus on STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs like MathCounts do more than sharpen computational skills or increase the student’s ability to flex theorems. “ Mathematics truly is a language all to its own,” remarked VUMS mathlete Kai Williams. A language that not all of us speak, but one that opens doorways to careers, limitless possibilities and for those who cannot only speak mathematics, but wield its powers, a window into the future and the direction tomorrow is taking today, in the hands of our youngest mathletes.

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