TISS and BCI Teams Take First Spot in Zone
in Three Prestigious Math Contests
(Brockville) – Brockville’s two public high schools took top spot in their zone recently in three levels of the prestigious Waterloo University math contest program.
Brockville Collegiate Institute took first in the Cayley contest for Grade 10 students and the Fermat contest for Grade 11 students, while the Thousand Islands Secondary School team took first in the Pascal contest for Grade 9 students. The school topped competitors in Zone 66, covering most areas of eastern Ontario excluding Ottawa. The tests are administered by the university’s Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing.
Brockville Collegiate Institute math teacher Jay Wright said recently his team is ecstatic with the wins. BCI had nearly 50 students train for all four levels of the Waterloo contest.
“It’s pretty amazing that the two Brockville (public) high schools won all three contests,” said Wright. “We have a lot of schools in the east with some very, very smart kids so it’s pretty neat to win.”
Wright said a key to the victory was preparation and a genuine enthusiasm for the subject.
“My kids are pretty keen,” he said of his math club students. “They came in after school, once a week for three months and we worked on higher level math problems. They have a lot of fun doing it because there’s this amazing atmosphere in the room when we do math. The students love it.”
TISS Math Teacher Lesley Mackellar said the top students on her team are all from the specialized MST program, an enriched course in math, science, computers and technology that helped prepare them for success.
“We’re extremely proud of these Grade 9 students and look forward to continually challenging them in the Grades 10, 11, and 12 contests,” she said, adding that the math departments of feeder schools also deserved credit for the team’s achievement.
Teams are awarded first spot based on the average of the top three scores from their school team. The top three TISS scores in the Pascal contest were posted by: Erik Desjardins, 124; Declan Colwell, 122; and Matthew Cyr, 114.
Two other students from TISS, Jayson Brown and Andrew Vanderkloet, posted respective scores of 110 and 106.
In the Grade 10 Cayley contest BCI triumphed through the scores of students: Desmond Maloney, 150; Bronwynne Dawes, 114; and Victoria Everett, 111. The school won the Grade 11 Fermat contest through the efforts of students: Cherry Weng, 124; Onkar Bhanushali, 120; and Dandy Feng, 112.
For more information, please call:
Lesley Mackellar
Math Teacher
Thousand Islands Secondary School
613-342-1100