7 students top Mathcourt regional

Seven students from middle and high schools on islands were adjudged overall winners in the final round of the 2009 CNMI Mathcourt regional competition held Saturday at Marianas High School.

Eric Park of Ladera International School won a gold medal in high school algebra, while Grace Christian Academy’s Jeon Dae Won topped high school geometry. Kagman High School’s Terrence Duenas was hailed champion in high school advanced algebra.

Outstanding students in the middle school division included Hopwood Junior High’s John Paul Maglubat (numbers), Ladera International’s Kevin Park (algebra), Saipan International School’s Harry Jun (geometry and measurement), and Hopwood’s Jesse Santos (data statistics probability).

A total of 192 finalists from 17 middle and high schools took part in the Mathcourt regional.

Dora Miura, Mathcourt coordinator for the 6-12th grade division, said participants in Saturday’s competition had already won ribbon and medals during the first four preliminary competitions conducted since October.

Organized by the National Forensic League board in collaboration with the Public School System, the Mathcourt competition was formed in accordance with the public school’s benchmarks and standards to promote student learning.

Though it is not patterned after any national math competitions, Miura disclosed that PSS is looking at sending delegates to off-island math contests next year.

She said they are already evaluating members of next year’s delegation to the off-island events.

“This year is a little bit late [for us to send teams in the national math events] because we just finished our regional rounds. However, we’re working on something next year,” she said.

Besides Mathcourt, the CNMI also had the Mathcounts competition, organized by EFC Engineers & Architects. It is temporarily suspended due to the bad economy.

Although the two competitions have different aspects and categories, Miura said they have similar goals of promoting math, developing students’ critical thinking by solving mathematical problems, and promoting student learning.

“Our basic objective is to promote student learning. We do that by making them aware of the PSS benchmarks, which we use as guidelines for creating questions. The more we do this, the more teachers will look at those benchmarks while students will try to learn them for the competition. In the end, they do better in test scores, better in class, and appreciate math a little better than before,” the coordinator said.

Gold medal winner Eric Park from LISS said questions in last weekend’s regionals were very challenging.

“I find the problems today very challenging…and interesting. It made me think more carefully and I am happy I was able to solve them,” the 11th grader told Saipan Tribune after competing in the final round of algebra.

This year marked Park’s first participation in the CNMI Mathcourt.

“I enjoyed the whole experience…and I’m looking forward to next year’s Mathcourt events,” he said.

A consistent participant since second grade, Eucon International School eight grader Philip Miral said Mathcourt is more than a competition for him.

“I’ve been joining since I was in my second grade and I enjoy each year’s experience. Yes, it may be tiring…but the whole experience is worth it,” he said, adding that he has met new friends through the events.