Local students compete in national math competition

En Yang Pang, Dencio Manglona, Christina Lee and Frank Yeung competed in the Mathcounts National Competition on May 6, 2005, in Detroit, Michigan.

The CNMI team coach was Ramir Trinidad from Marianas Baptist Academy.

These four students earned the right to represent the CNMI by finishing in the top four individual places at the CNMI Commonwealth Competition earlier this year. At the National Competition, En Yang Pang of Marianas Baptist Academy finished the highest of the CNMI “Mathletes” and placed 98th overall out of 225 competitors.

“It is believed that this is the highest finish ever by a CNMI Mathlete at the National Competition,” according to a statement from the local Mathcounts organizer.

Also, the CNMI beat at least four other teams to end with a respectable Team Score and finish.

The national competition pits the best and brightest students against each other from across the country. The CNMI contingent represented only four of the 228 students at the competition, which hail from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Department of Defense and State Department schools worldwide.

The CNMI mathletes were well-received in Detroit where they made a lot of friends and were excited to test themselves against the best math students in the nation. The team stayed in the Detroit Marriot and arrived with a large contingent of supporters, including parents and families.

“In fact, the CNMI had one of the largest groups of volunteers at the event and helped with registration, scoring and reception duties. They spread our island’s good cheer and educated a lot of people about the CNMI while they gave away over 250 CNMI pins as part of an annual tradition at the event,” organizers said.

Before leaving Detroit, the whole team and most of the supporters also got treated to a special General Motors tour at the GM Center.

Celebrating its 22nd anniversary nationally and 12th year here in the CNMI, Mathcounts is a national math enrichment, coaching and competition program open to all 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. Since 1983, more than 6 million students have participated in Mathcounts.

Locally, EFC Engineers and Architects Corp. coordinates the program. Primary Sponsors for the local program include Subway Investment, Verizon, TransAmerica, Mobil Oil Marianas Islands Inc., DFS Saipan, Continental Airlines, and Chong’s Corp. Local sponsors also include the Saipan Garment Manufacturing Association, Geotesting, UPAA – CNMI Chapter, Deloitte & Touche, UMDA, Inc., Saipan Shipping, and National Office Supply.

Mathcounts is a prestigious organization with founding sponsors, including the CNA Foundation, the National Society of Professional Engineers and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Nationally, Mathcounts is sponsored annually by ADC Foundation, General Motors Foundation, Lockheed Martin, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Raytheon Company, Shell Oil Company, Texas Instruments Inc., 3M Foundation and Xerox Corp.