THEY FORSAKE TWO TO three of their Saturdays a month. They sometimes stay late at the end of a long day or put in extra sessions during their down time.
Not bad for 9- to 12-year-olds.
That’s right, the Preston Hollow Elementary School math team, which consists of 12 fourth- through sixth-graders, put in a lot of practice time with each other and coach John Pickens in preparation for this year’s DISD Math Olympiad in late March.
Did it pay off? If you consider beating out teams from nearly 120 other schools to take first-place honors paying off …
The group, Pickens says, was well prepared for victory. They started practicing math problems in August. In addition to staying after school for 45 minutes on Tuesdays for practice sessions, the group’s members also have individual tutoring, sessions during the school day. The fifth- and sixth-graders also give up part of their weekends to compete in TMSCA (Texas Mathematics & Science Coaches Association) competitions.
With that training schedule, Pickens says, the kids were “expectant” of victory. Which isn’t to say they still weren’t thrilled.
“They were very excited. They were elated,” he says proudly. They had some extra motivation as well, he adds. “Last year we got eighth (place), and they were very disappointed. They wanted a better showing this year.”
The math teams members are: fourth-graders Christian Smith, Bon Hwang Koo, Reggis Guthrey and Amanda Goldstein; fifth-graders Molly Fisher, Sarah Fisher, Stephanie Gore and Messhia Young; and sixth-graders Taylor Converse, Kateann Kleinman, Emily, Westbrook and Barrington Hwang.
In addition to their team victory, Guthrey Hwang, Molly and Sarah Fisher, Gore and Hwang all placed in both area and district individual competitions.
The kids initially had little time to celebrate: Six of the 12 immediately started training for the state mathematics competition, held last month in San Antonio (results were unavailable as of press time).
After that, however, a celebration was in order. Pickens held a party for the team at his house, something he was glad to do.
“We’re very excited about it,” he says of the victory. “That’s what we work toward for the whole year – winning the Math Olympiad.”
