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1,000 students put their calculators away for FGCUmath competitionBy HEATHER CARNEY
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Pencils, scrap paper and brains.
Those were the only tools high school students could use Thursday to solve complicated
geometry, calculus and algebra problems at the annual Florida Gulf Coast University
Mathematics Competition.
More than 1,000 high school students and some middle school students participated in the ninth
annual statewide competition. Teams from local schools, including Naples High School,
Community School of Naples, Fort Myers High, Royal Palm Academy and Seacrest Country Day
School participated and won awards.
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FGCU awarded seven full scholarships to students from each of the individual subject
competitions — Algebra 1, geometry, statistics, Algebra 2, precalculus, calculus, and chemistry.
FGCU added chemistry this year in response to the statewide emphasis on science, technology,
engineering and math (STEM).
Naples High School freshman Austin Kalmans participated in the competition for the first time this
year. He loves math and the problem solving it requires.
"There's almost always a direct answer," Kalmans said.
This year, he and his three Naples High teammates took home the 8th place trophy for geometry
out of 36 teams. Their eyes lit up in shock when their names were called. After the geometry
round, the team members said they didn't think they did as well as they could have.
Each team had four minutes to complete a dozen problems on the projection screen. If a team
answered correctly in the first minute it was awarded 16 points, 12 points in the second minute
and so on.
Volunteer FGCU students ran between the tables collecting the answered problems, which were
scored by local high school math teachers.
"It started out easy but then it got a lot harder," Naples High team member Sami Sanderson said.
The Naples High team also said the wording of the problems was tricky.
"We're learning stuff here that we won't learn until later in the year," Naples High team member
Owen Gemmer said. "We'll be ahead."
The Community School team won first place for the geometry category and Seacrest Country
Day School won first place in the Algebra 2 category.
Jeremy Price of Community School won first place in the chemistry competition, while Samantha
Burns of Seacrest won first place in the Algebra 2 competition. Both earned a full scholarship to
FGCU.
FGCU math professor Jerry Ellis started the competition nine years ago as a way to draw
students to the university and give students a competitive forum to practice math. This year's
turnout rivaled that of the largest mathematics competition in the state.
"I have students in my class now who tell me that they went to FGCU for the math competition in
high school," Ellis said. "They were so floored by the beauty of the campus that they wanted to
come back."
He called the math competition "the largest academic pep rally."
"These kids know that it's cool to be smart," Ellis said.
FGCU math instructor Maryann Moore agreed that the competitions are a great place for
students who aren't so keen on athletics or other clubs and activities.
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"For kids who love something as uncool as math, this is a great place to be," she said.
The awards ceremony featured FCGU President Wilson Bradshaw and mathematician Edward
Burger.
Burger spoke to the students about applying math in their everyday lives. He said the critical
thinking used in math leads to the question "What comes next?"
"What comes next will shape who we are as human beings," Burger said. "There are great ideas
out there that we haven't even thought of yet."
Ellis said the math and chemistry departments are working on a similar science, technology,
engineering, and math competition for March.
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