by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
David Zhang, a Sartell Middle School student, is now on the four-member Minnesota MATCHCOUNTS team that will compete for the national championship May 7-10 in Washington, D.C.
The Sartell Middle School team, of which Zhang is a member, recently earned fifth place in a grueling statewide competition among 26 teams in Plymouth. About 100 “mathletes” competed in the event. The other members of the Sartell MATHCOUNTS team, besides Zhang, are Janagan Ramanathan, Luc Westling and Jacob Wieland.
On the Minnesota team with Zhang will be Timothy Alexander, who is being home-schooled in Rochester; Jason Wang of Eden Prairie Middle School and Alex Zhu of Rochester’s Kellogg Middle School.
The team that took first place at the Plymouth tournament was St. Paul’s Capitol Hill Magnet School, second was Wayzata West Middle School, third was Wayzata Central Middle School and fourth was Eden Prairie Middle School.
MATHCOUNTS is a nationwide program that heightens student interest in math by challenging them to excel while they are in grades 6-8. Teachers and volunteers use 300 problems and activities to coach students as part of in-class instruction or in extracurricular math clubs. After several months of coaching, schools select students to compete individually or as part of a team in written and oral competitions.
David Zhang, mathlete, is one of four winning members of the Minnesota MATHCOUNTS team that will compete in the nation’s Capital in May.
