Six of the top ten students in the Think Through Math summer competition came to a reception held in their honor on Nov. 5. From L–R are: Saide Christoffel, Jésus Mendez, Patrick Han, Alexander Chin, Aldo Ortega, and Drayton Gober.
Ten students’ passion for solving math problems over their summer vacation has helped bring HISD first-place honors and bragging rights as the top district in its division of Think Through Math’s (TTM) “2013 Texas Math—Everybody’s Doing It!” competition.
The contest lasted from June 10 until Aug. 9, and districts from all over the state participated by having students complete math lessons to earn points.
HISD students won the top prize in the Newton Division (for districts with 50,000+ students) by solving 1,365,281 individual math problems and earning 51,420,166 points, collectively. To celebrate, TTM and HISD representatives recognized the district’s top ten student performers at a special reception on Nov. 5.
HISD Curriculum Specialist Nicole Ayen-Metoyer called the honorees’ feat “a remarkable accomplishment.”
“You all have done in two months what we ask most students to do in seven,” she said. “We aim for students to complete 30 lessons over a year’s time, and every single one of you completed at least 50 in just nine weeks. That’s amazing.”
“Nothing gives greater pleasure to an educator than when students are achievers in math,” added Think Through Math representative Karen Tillett. “And can I just say how cool it is to hear that you all did math over your summer break? I have to tell you, nobody even came close to you guys in terms of how many points you earned. Arlington ISD was in second place with 17,993,792 and Northside ISD took third with 8,969,367.”
The top 10 students in this year’s contest were:
1. Yanlei Way (Pershing MS)—152 lessons passed
2. Ammara Faiz (Oates ES)—88 lessons passed
3. Aldo Ortega (Wilson Montessori)—86 lessons passed
4. Saide Christoffel (Wilson Montessori)—76 lessons passed
5. Patrick Han (Pin Oak MS)—71 lessons passed
6. Drayton Gober (Pershing MS)—69 lessons passed
7. Luis Chiguil (Lovett ES)—64 lessons passed
8. Jésus Mendez (Grady MS)—58 lessons passed
9. Kalyan Gautam (Cunningham ES)—54 lessons passed
10. Alexander Chin (Pin Oak MS)—51 lessons passed