BY VICTORIA HURLEY-SCHUBERT
Staff Writer
MARLBORO – Both Marlboro middle schools had students ranked in top positions in the annual New Jersey Mathematics League contest, Superintendent of Schools David C. Abbott announced at the Board of Education’s reorganization meeting on May 1.
“We’re always competitive in mathematics,” Abbott said. “This is indicative of the capacity of our students in mathematics. It also is indicative of the expertise our teachers have in teaching it.”
Parents also spent many late nights picking up their children after the math clubs met and providing the support and preparation for the rigorous competition, said Abbott.
“Parental support is critical for motivation and getting children to the competition and providing the enthusiasm to their children … it’s no different than children on sports teams,” he added.
The Math League was co-founded by Daniel Flegler, a former teacher at Waldwick High School in Waldwick, and Steven R. Conrad, a former teacher at Roslyn High School, Roslyn, N.Y., in 1977. According to its Web site, the Math League “specializes in math contests, books and computer software designed to stimulate interest and confidence in mathematics for students from the fourth grade through high school,” and more than 1 million students participate in its contests each year, held nationwide and in Canada.
Each grade-appropriate contest consists of 40 multiple-choice questions that get progressively harder. The test is administered in February for the elementary and middle school levels.
Students will be recognized at the June 12 board meeting to be held at the Marlboro Middle School auditorium with other award winners.
Results for the 2006-07 school year contests for Marlboro are:
Kaiwen Zhou, a sixth-grader at the Marlboro Middle School, placed first in the region, with both middle schools (Marlboro Middle School and Marlboro Memorial Middle School) placing second in the region and 11th out of 226 schools statewide. Zhou placed fifth out of the Top 38 students statewide in his grade.
Among seventh-graders, Alexa Shea of Marlboro Middle School placed first in the region. Max Flores of Marlboro Memorial Middle School and Stephen Guo of Marlboro Middle School tied for second place, and Vinay Ayyala of Marlboro Memorial Middle School took fourth place.
For the region, Marlboro Middle School came in first place, with Marlboro Memorial Middle School coming in second place.
Statewide, Shea placed among third; Flores and Guo tied for eighth place; and Ayyala placed 17th out of the Top 27 students. Marlboro Middle School came in seventh place and Marlboro Memorial Middle School came in ninth place out of 205 participating schools.
Marlboro schools practically swept the region in the eighth grade, with both middle schools tied for first place.
Nathaniel May of Marlboro Middle School tied for first place; Janie Gu of Marlboro Memorial Middle School placed third; Joshua Battaglia, Mojin Chen and Jeremy Mathew of Marlboro Memorial Middle School and Allyn Budka and Harmeet Dhingra of Marlboro Middle School all tied for fourth place in the region.
Statewide, Marlboro Memorial Middle School and Marlboro Middle School eighth-graders tied for fifth place out of 198 schools. May tied with 12 others for first place and Gu placed 14th out of the Top 28 students.