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Earlier MathCourt tilts to increase nat’l competitiveness
CNMI MathCourt’s fourth to fifth grade division competed early this year, with over 200 students from private and public schools joining last Saturday’s event at Hopwood Junior High School. According to MathCourt administrator Reo Arriola, this will give more time to train the state team for the national MathCourt competition.
Last June, the CNMI sent its first state team for the Mathleague.org national competition, according to Arriola. He said the team came away from the experience with “room for improvement.”
By running the grades 4 to 5 competitions earlier, this will give the CNMI more time to pick its representatives for the national competition, he said, and allow them to “train throughout” the months leading to the competition.
“Our goal is to have regionals next month for [grades] 6-12, and January to February for state and regional competitions for 4-5. This is the tentative schedule,” he said.
Last Saturday, the sixth to eight grade division competed, with Arriola estimating about 500 students participating. Along with the 200-plus elementary competitors, he called Saturday’s meet a “big event.”
Tinian also held a meet that same day, he said.
The results of the competition should be out over the weekend or today instead of the day of competition, according to Arriola, as they were short of some MathCourt administrators who were off-island.
As of yesterday afternoon, no results had been posted on the CNMI MathCourt website.
The regional competition for grades 6 to 8 will be held on Dec. 13 next month. On Dec. 20, the regional competition will be held for grades 9 to 12, with the second meet for grades 4 to 5 held that same day, according to Arriola.
He thanked Hopwood for hosting Saturday’s competition and encouraged all schools to register their students early to meet deadlines so competitions can “run smoothly as possible.”
As has been the case in the last few years of competition, no ribbons or medal will be awarded to students due to budget constraints, according to Arriola.
