12 schools. 16 teams. 130 competitors.
MATH CHALLENGE → By Zachary Fujita (‘18)
NEWS
On November 29, 2017, Hawaii Baptist Academy hosted its annual Middle School Math Challenge competition. Created by then junior Cameron Taketa (current HBA high school math teacher) in 2002, Math Challenge is an interscholastic event for middle school students from Oahu where they compete in math-related events and activities.
The event is divided into two halves, one for testing and the other for a scavenger hunt. During the first half, students take tests individually on one of four different subjects: Area and Perimeter, Order of Operations, Probability, and Linear Equations. Points are awarded based difficulty and how many problems the students are able to solve. In the second half, students go on a 35-minute scavenger hunt on the school campus, looking for hidden problems to solve to earn points for their team. This year, Highlands Intermediate School from Pearl City took first overall. HBA’s two competing teams came close behind, placing second and third.
One thing unique to HBA’s Math Challenge teams is the use of student coaches. While math teachers coach other schools’ teams, HBA’s teams are coached by high school students. Over a six-week period leading up to the competition, Math Challenge committee members—juniors and seniors—run morning practices for the middle schoolers three times a week. “The competition was very organized and planned,” said HBA seventh grader Miya Yuks. “Everyone has something to do at every moment, so you never get bored. The events are either with your school team or with a team of mixed people from different schools. So, you have to work with people you don’t know at some points, which gives you time to socialize with new people. All the events were math-related and still very exciting or fun. Overall the event was very memorable and exciting.” Classmate Joey Lin had the most fun with the non-competitive activity. “My favorite thing about Math Challenge was the geometry game,” she said. “It was really fun making the tower with different geometric shapes. I mostly liked it because we got to eat the extra marshmallows.” A lot of planning and preparation takes place behind the scenes for the one-day event. While the HBA Math Department and faculty advisors assist in creating the math problems for the competition and
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All contestants also participate in a non-competitive Geometry activity, in which students work in groups with students from other schools. This year, students collaborated to build towers out of uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows.
(Top) Team “Cloud9” with their completed tower for the Geometry event; (Bottom) HBA’s second Math Challenge team await their next challenge.
managing the administrative paperwork, the majority of the event is student-run. NHS committee chairs do everything from inviting other schools to running the activities. Junior Niko Lopez, one of the Math Challenge committee’s three co-chairs, said, “My job in the event as a whole is basically leading the event and organizing the practices for our HBA middle schoolers because they are also participating in the event. I basically supervise all the different events and practices.” Through the Math Challenge event, students from different schools are brought together with the shared goals of learning and having fun. “Math is important. You’re gonna need math for the rest of your life, and it’s good to build a strong foundation in math now,” said lead Math Challenge co-chair and senior Joshua Fujita. “[Math Challenge] builds more than strong foundations in math; it builds this unique interscholastic bond and you’re not going to find that anywhere else.”