Nearly 200 middle school students participated in the 40th annual MathCounts competition held at West Shore Community College.
This was the highest number of students in several years.
The competition featured top middle school “mathletes” from 14 school districts Mason, Oceana, and Manistee counties, with some winners advancing to the regional MathCounts competition in Muskegon.
“Not all of these kids compete in athletics and MathCounts is like their Super Bowl,” said Brian Dotson, Region 9 director of MiSTEM, who works in our area in partnership with the West Shore ESD.
MiSTEM is a statewide network of 16 regions comprised of businesses and schools dedicated to improving opportunities for students to excel in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
High school students statewide have been able to compete in the multi-disciplinary Quiz Bowl for quite some time, but middle school math whizzes didn’t have a tournament in which they could shine until 1983.
West Shore MathCounts started in 1984 thanks to the local engineers who organized it: Denny Dunlap, Jim Clark, John Kreinbrink, Jim Nordlund Sr., and the late Carl Dewald.
This group of engineers are affectionately referred to by Brian as “the founding fathers.”
Nordlund and Clark were on site as special guests of honor at the 40th anniversary MathCounts tourney.
“These engineers started an impactful event that lasted the test of time,” Brian said. “MathCounts elevates math and lets students experience how fun it can be on an individual and a team level.”
The test for the West Shore MathCounts Competition is written locally by engineers from Nordlund & Associates.
Interestly, Nordlund & Associates President Holly Mulherin was a participant in the very first West Shore MathCounts competition.
Overall winners from MathCounts' Countdown Round – where the top 12 performers from earlier rounds face off – were Robbie Buchanan of Hart Middle School. Runner-up was Kasen Carlsen of OJ DeJonge Middle School in Ludington.
There was a three-way tie for first place in the individual rounds among Ethan Bogner of OJ DeJonge MS, Alton Cook of Manistee Middle School, and Brycen Brown of Shelby Middle School.
The winner of the team competition was the Hart Middle School team comprised of Robbie Buchanan, Isabella Hallack, Weston Clark, and Ashton Myanard. Hart’s coach is Jamie Kistler.
Shelby Middle School fielded the second-place team comprised of Brycen Brown, Raya Clark, Noah Dodge, and Brixtyn Friedman. Shelby’s coach is Andrea Glamzi.
(Walkerville's Middle School Team)
Partners in organizing, grading and sponsoring this worthwhile event are the West Shore ESD, the MiSTEM Network, Manistee ISD, West Shore Community College, Nordlund & Associates, Harsco Rail, and Packaging Corps of America.
Thank you all!