Four budding mathematicians plus one high school tournament equaled a win for the Thomas County Central High School Math Competition team.
Members of the team placed third overall (out of 14 teams) in the Valdosta State University High School Mathematics Tournament. Also, team sponsor and TCCHS math teacher Darrin Minns said member Guanghui Li finished fifth individually and received a $1,000 scholarship to VSU, a school Li hopes to attend next fall.
“I'm very proud of the overall team performance,” Minns said. “The team score is a composite of the four individual scores. To place this highly means that each individual did very well. Each student, regardless of grade level, takes the same test which makes the result doubly impressive when you consider that two of the four students to compete are 10th graders.”
The school could only take four students to the competition. Minns said these students were “individually selected because of competition experience and practice performance.”
Member Jacob Hancock, a senior, said the competition was an “enjoyable experience.” He enjoys math because “it is not only difficult and complex” but also “exciting.”
Tenth grade member C’lee Kornegay likes math because she likes “being able to take the different formulas and equations I know” and “apply them to more complex mathematical scenarios.”
Kornegay said such competitions “challenge you to learn and think of things that you wouldn’t normally learn in a classroom.”
Hancock agrees participation in competitions like the one at VSU is important.
“It helps improve your mathematic knowledge, and it helps one uncover hidden information that a person may not have previously known,” he said.
Minns said these competitions are important because they provide challenges to students.
“It’s not just a + b = c, but rather they have to use skills learned in the classroom and apply them to problems and situations they may have never considered,” he said. “Through this kind of academic practice and competition they become better thinkers and problem solvers which will serve them well in both their academic and professional lives that follow.”