Kenosha, Racine Mathletes to compete at state
Area 'Mathletes' to compete for state title
Mathletes® from Mahone, Lance, Washington, and McKinley middle schools of Kenosha and Prairie School of Racine were winners at the local Mathcounts competition. Held recently at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, the contest determined who would represent the area at the state competition in Madison on March 1.
Coached by Nicole Houghton, the Mahone team of Samantha Barsuli, Max Zuhlke, Lauren Klein, and Marisa Lucke finished first in the competition. The LanceMiddle School team of Nicole Geiger, Paige Schultz, Kyle Geatner, and Rachel Stoebe finished second. They were coached by Tracy Keckler and Dawn Gosse, with Nicole Geiger winning the top individual honor. The team from The Prairie School of Racine finished third in the contest.
In addition to the top two teams, four Mathletes not on the first and second place teams will compete at state. They include Mike Mason of PrairieSchool, Alex VanHoof of Washington, Nick Davis from McKinley, and Thomas Athey of Lance.
"In our increasingly technological society, students who do not begin developing strong problem-solving, logical thinking, and analytical abilities in middle school face an uphill battle later in life if they want to pursue a medical, scientific, mathematical, engineering, or technical career," said contest coordinator Darwin Behlke. "As a national math enrichment program, Mathcounts prepares students for future career opportunities and success."
Mathcounts is sponsored locally by the Wisconsin Society of Professional Engineers-Southeast Chapter, UW-Parkside School of Business and Technology (SBT) and the university Computer Science Dept., SBT Advisory Board members Gerald Uick, Elm Grove Investment Group; Robert Toeppe, Wisconsin Plating Works; James Puchter, Ponderosa Timberlands; and John Schoenwaelder, John & Jean Schoenwaelder Real Estate Ltd.), Kenosha Unified School District #1, and Behlke. National sponsors include Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman Foundation, Texas Instruments, National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), 3M Foundation, General Motors Foundation, CNA Foundation, ConocoPhillips, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and NASA.
For more information on Mathcounts, access www.mathcounts.org via email.
