RCDS Students Take Top Honors at Math League District Playoffs

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RUMSON – Students from the Rumson Country Day School participated in the Math League District Playoffs at Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Monmouth County and many came away with awards.
Students from grades 3 through 6 competed. The event is sponsored by mathleague.org whose philosophy includes a belief that math contests should be a learning experience. To that end, students should be exposed to brand new problems at every contest, should be allowed to keep their test questions and completed answer sheets and should be given solutions to all problems at the conclusion of the contest.
The third- and fourth-graders participated this year as a trial experiment. Each grade chose four students from teachers Sara Diaz in grade 3 and Erin Campanella in grade 4 while fifth- and sixth-graders competed against each other to select their team. This event represented the district-level competition with the next level being states. Students met five times after school to prepare for the contest.
“Congratulations to all the RCDS math team participants for an awesome showing at the Math League Tournament at Solomon Shecter,” said Jayne Carmody, head of The Lower School. “We are so very proud of all our students. The children have proven to be great competitors, superior math students and represented RCDS so well! Best of all, each student, trophy or not, came home smiling and proud of their participation!”
There were individual and team awards for each grade that competed.
The third grade team of Alexander Mitchell (Red Bank), Katharine Balestro (Rumson), Hanaway Croddick (Rumson) and Morgan Skove (Rumson) took 1st place. Individual certificates were achieved by Alexander Mitchell (1st place), Hanaway Croddick (2nd place), Katharine Balestro (4th place) and Morgan Skove  (9th place).
The fourth grade participants were Ainsley Gmelich (Rumson), Christopher Hall (Little Silver), Sarah Silbert (Holmdel) and Anthony Whittemore (Rumson).
The fifth grade participants were Gannon Carroll (Rumson), Elizabeth Huesman (Fair Haven), Miles Skove (Rumson) and Christopher Maida (Red Bank). Individual awards went to Miles Skove (2nd place) and Gannon Carroll (6th place).
In the sixth grade, the team of Elias Economou (Monmouth Beach), Taylor Harrison (Fair Haven), Madeleine Reinhard (Rumson), Abigail Devine (Rumson) and Sammy Lyle (Fair Haven) won their grade-level team competitions. Individual certificates were achieved by Noah Lee of Colts Neck (1st place), Sammy Lyle (3rd place), Madeleine Reinhard (4th place), Madeline Mitsch of Rumson (9th place) and Christian Molnar of Rumson (10th place).
“At RCDS, we love any opportunity for our children to put their learning to use, whether in a project, a trip, or a competition,” said Head of The Upper School Bill Lamb. “Math League provides just this chance, where our kids can celebrate their academic skills and feel pride about demonstrating their learning. When kids can do some hard work, earn some positive feedback and feel validated for their efforts, they gain self-respect that is irreplaceable. Everyone knows it is good to excel at math, but these children have now experienced the rewards of excellence. We thank the Math League for this chance.”
All students who finished in the top five in their grade level will now compete at the state competition.