Math Olympiad = Four Medals for Orcas

— from David Kau —

Pictured on their return trip to Orcas:
From left to right, 7th graders: Benjamin Pollard, Nate Smith, Meg Waage, Phaedra Osborn, Millie Kau, Olivia Brunner-Gaydos, Ronan Kau, Luke Pietsch, Paris Wilson, Emma Thoron, Henry Moe; followed by 5th graders on the far right: Flora Lister, Izie Janecek, Sophia Fleming, Lindsey Simpson. Contributed photo.

Congratulations to the Orcas Island 5th and 7th graders who traveled last weekend to compete in Washington State’s 2014 Math Olympiad. The Math Olympiad is a one day event hosted by the Washington State Mathematics Council for 5^th-8^th graders. This year, 2,500 students competed simultaneously at 25 different sites across the State. This year, a total of in 600 teams registered. Orcas Island School District sent one team of 5^th graders to the Sequim site and three teams of 7^th graders to the Bainbridge site.

The test is comprised of two sections: a 1 hour Session 1 “Long Problems” followed by five 20 minute Session 2 “Short Problems.” This year’s Long Problem was slightly different from previous years as all 4 grade levels were asked to solve variations of the same problem – to calculate the surface area of a human-scaled statue of a hypothetical “Golden Hand Award” by using two strategies that would create an overestimate and an underestimate.  Higher grade levels were additionally asked to calculate the volume, weight, and cost of gold-plating for this statue, or else to calculate the maximum size one could make a statue given a fixed budget. Teams were required to demonstrate and document their reasoning.  During Session 2, teams answered 20 different Short Problem questions from the categories of Number Sense, Measurement, Geometric Sense, Probability & Statistics, and Algebraic Sense. Each team consisted of 2 to 4 students.

In the past five years, 5^th and 6^th grade teams have been coached by volunteer parents during many weeks leading up to the event.  7^th and 8^th graders are coached through a Middle School Exploratory class taught by teacher Lori Oakes.  On the day of the test, volunteer students, parents, and teachers all help out proctoring and judging at the various sites. The event is conceived as a celebration of mathematics and is also great fun for the coaches and judges who also take the test for the first time themselves – verifying solutions and sometimes coming up with alternative solutions that spurs good-natured debate.

This year, Orcas teams did exceptionally well, earning an unprecedented number of four medals. At Bainbridge, two Orcas 7th grade teams earned Superior performance medals on their Long Problems.  One 7th grade team earned a medal for their Superior performance on their scores for their Short Problems.  A third 7th grade team received ribbons for their score of “Excellent” on 4 out of 5 of their Short Problems, which included questions that even stumped a few of the coaches and judges.

At Sequim, the 5th grade team, also won a Superior performance medal for their Long Problem. Although the 5^th grade team was new to the contest, they completely exceeded the Coach’s expectations. The four girls didn’t have much time to train for the Long Problem — which can be very challenging as it requires good organization and teamwork, and over the course of the one hour event, there can many opportunities for a solution to run awry. Of special note this year, Orcas teams scored the overall highest scores in the Long Problem at each of the two test sites.

The coaches want to thank the Orcas Island Education Foundation (OIEF) which provided a generous grant to make the trip possible and affordable, and of course the Orcas Island School District which helps to organize participation in the event and trains the middle schoolers. This year’s parent volunteer coaches included David Kau, Ian Lister, John Fleming, Bruce Dalusio, David Janecek with support from school teacher Chris Waage.