Math team!

This year I've been co-coaching the BRES Mathcounts team. I competed in Mathcounts when I was in junior high, and it was something I really wanted the girls to be able to do here in Boothbay too. Well, we moved back and I discovered that BRES didn't have a junior high math team anymore. That couldn't stand!

I talked to some of the teachers in the elementary school when Nina got to kindergarten, and they were already thinking the same thing. Two started up a math club either that year or Nina's first grade year. I was already planning to be gone for Nina's second grade year, but now that we're back, a lovely teacher named Mrs. Arnold and I are coaching the club, and for the first time in years, we took a team to the regional meet to compete against the local schools.

We got fourth place! Super exciting, it means the kids will go on to the state meet in March. We have a lot of work to do to be competition ready for state's, but we're gonna give it our all!

The girls came with me to the regional meet at Kennebec Valley Community College yesterday. We rode the bus together with Mrs. Arnold and the 8 kids on the team. The actual meet is a series of three math-questions sessions that were held in classrooms--two individual rounds and one team round.  During the break times we had tables in the gym that we sat at, though the kids spent more time running around playing tag than sitting. As they should!

After the three rounds was a ladder-style one-on-one competition for the top 10 kids at the meet. One of our Boothbay kids made it to that, so that was very exciting too.

Finally we collected our trophies (they still look the same, 3-4-5 right triangles mounted on marble bases) and I got my coach's pin. Then it was back on the bus for the 1.25 hour ride home. Maggie fell asleep on my lap while Nina played on my iPad.

It was quite an exhausting day! We left the house at 7:00 and didn't get home again until 4:00. We'll do it all again at state's though!