Local student joins Ohio’s team for U.S. math showdown

Ankeney team takes top honors at MATHCOUNTS; Watts Middle School finishes 14th.

BEAVERCREEK — It was all pluses and no minuses for four students from Ankeney Middle School at the recent MATHCOUNTS state competition in Columbus.

The Ankeney team took top honors while team member David Kim was the top-scoring competitor. The team will compete in the nationals in Orlando, Fla., on May 7. His coaches, teachers Erin Sommers and Andrea Schutte, will coach the Ohio team.

Other Ankeney team members are Caleb Dilsavor, Sid Enukonda and Duncan Thomas. All the students are eighth-graders.

“Their hard work, passion for math and their dedication paid off,” Sommers said.

She and Schutte said they are thrilled one of their students will be on the Ohio team at the 2010 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition.

“David is an outstanding mathematician and student all around, and his character is equally impressive, she added.

The state competition involved 200 students representing 76 schools in Ohio, according to Carol Manda, with the Dayton Society of Professional Engineers. The local chapter of the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers provided leadership of the area MATHCOUNTS program, she added. The regional competition was held in February.

The Ankeney Middle School team was one of two school teams from the Dayton area at state competition held in March. The team from Watts Middle School finished 14th, Manda said.

MATHCOUNTS is a national math-enrichment program with activities and competition for club members. Targeted at middle-school students, the program is designed to improve math skills among students in the United States.

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