The Top Ten mathletes in the STTJ district along with Deputy Superintendent Michael Harrigan and District Math Coordinator Avon Benjamin.
The Virgin Islands Department of Education hosted its annual St. Thomas-St. John district 2017 MATHCOUNTS Chapter Competition on Thursday, February 16, 2017 in the Bertha C. Boschulte (BCB) Middle School library. The competition, which was comprised of a Sprint Round, Target Round, Team Round, and a speedy one-on-one Countdown Round, lasted five hours, and in the end, the four-person Antilles School team retained the title of district champions following their 2016 win.
The Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School and Peter Gruber International Academy also participated in this year’s competition, comprised of 24 students in the sixth through eighth grades. The Peter Gruber team placed second and BCB won third place.
The competition was facilitated by Avon Benjamin, district math coordinator, who expressed his satisfaction.
“I definitely enjoyed the participants and their enthusiasm, especially towards the end during the Countdown round," said Mr. Benjamin. "The competition was intense, the math problems were advanced and I think they did very well. The level of skill and discipline needed to compete at this level is profound and they were prepared."
Mr. Benjamin went on to share plans for next year's MATHCOUNTS. "The competition will be larger next year," he said. "I will try to recruit a variety of students to participate because competitions like this broaden students’ horizons in the STEM fields and feed their potential in Math.”
St. Thomas-St. John District Deputy Superintendent Michael Harrigan gave congratulatory remarks on behalf of the Office of the Insular Superintendent and praised the teams for participating in the annual rigorous math competition.
“I know this is an awful lot of work, getting ready for MATHCOUNTS, every year," he said, "but I get the sense that it’s worth it when I see your faces right now. We love MATHCOUNTS because it brings some of the best and brightest students together for some healthy competition.”
The Top 10 students from the St. Thomas-St. John district will compete against the Top 10 in the St. Croix district on March 16 at the State MATHCOUNTS Competition. Following that competition, four winners will be selected to represent the Territory at the 2017 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Championship, slated for May 14-15 in Orlando, Fla.
Along with the Department of Education, the event was sponsored by Rotary Club of St. Thomas II, which purchased trophies, plaques and meals for students.
The Top 10 mathletes from the St. Thomas-St. John District are as follows, in order of rank:
- Kashish Chainani Antilles School
- Mohit Mirpuri Antilles School
- Ronit Totwani Antilles School
- Tanya Mirchandani Antilles School
- Mitchell Turnbull, Jr. Antilles School
- Kira Mitchell VI Montessori/Peter Gruber International Academy
- Alessandro Gever Antilles School
- Aishwarya Nagpal Antilles School
- Arman Israni Antilles School
- Jahan Daswani Antilles School
BCB team preps for the Team Round.
Antilles Team preps for the Team Round.
The Peter Gruber team preps for the Team Round.
Peter Gruber MathCounts team and coach with District Math Coordinator, Avon Benjamin and Depute Superintendent Michael Harrigan.
BCB team and coach with District Math Coordinator, Avon Benjamin and Depute Superintendent Michael Harrigan.
Antilles team and coach with District Math Coordinator, Avon Benjamin and Depute Superintendent Michael Harrigan.
