(Photo provided) Four Wetzel County Schools students got to compete in the 48th annual West Virginia State Math Field Day, which is being held at West Virginia State University, shown here in Institute, W.Va.

Four Wetzel County Schools students got the chance to flex their math skills during the 48th annual West Virginia State Math Field Day in Institute, W.Va.

Fourth grader Kyle Mason, fifth grader Naomi Brown and freshmen Austin Hayes and Rebekah Nichols were among the hundreds of West Virginia students who participated in the event held April 12 at West Virginia State University.

There are eight Math Field Day regions. Wetzel County is in Region 6 along with Hancock, Brooke, Ohio and Marshall.

“Math Field Day is a great way for students to show off their math skills, just like a ballgame is a good way for students to show off their athletic skills,” said Pam Christy, Wetzel County Elementary math facilitator and Region 6 West Virginia State Math Field Day director. “These students love doing math, and they have fun during the competition even though it may be nerve-racking for them.”

Events for grades 4-9 included a written test, relays and estimation and mental math activities. The events are both “computational and physical in nature.” Students in grades 10-12 took exams prepared by the university’s faculty. The regional teams also participated in relays and a team power question and team questions.

The goal of the field day is to get students interested in math, to recognize those who excel in it and to allow such students the opportunity to interact with others who enjoy math.

“It’s important to encourage students who excel in math,” she said. “These are our future engineers, math teachers, accountants, scientists and more. Math Field Day is one way to recognize the students for their mathematical minds.”

Christy said the state competition was the third step in the process.

“First, the students have to compete and place at the county level. Then, those winners move on to the regional competition. Our regional math field day was held March 22 at Wheeling Park High School,” she said. “The final step for students in grades 4-9 was the state level on April 12. For students in grades 10-12, there is one more competition for them and it is the American Regions Math League. Usually, the Top 15 students in those grades will be invited to represent West Virginia at that contest; it will be held May 30-31.”

Winners from Region 6 were:

Grade 4:  

2nd place – Xin Zhao;

Grade 8 :   

3rd place – Peilin Yu;

Grades 10-12: 

12th place – Fangrui Zhang;

16th place – Eddie Lee;

19th place- Rocco D’Aquila;

22nd place – Connor Ray; and

26th place – Jaxon Milam.

According to information provided by Christy, “The inspiration for the development of the West Virginia State Mathematics Field Day is credited to a presentation, ‘The Laboratory Approach to Mathematics,’ given by Dr. Kenneth Kidd from the University of Florida at the 1971 annual meeting of the West Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

“Jerry Jackson, math director for Braxton County Schools, acting on Kidd’s comments that math is truly an exciting and fun subject to study, organized a math field day for the students of Braxton County in spring 1972.”

The first regional math day was held in 1973, and the first state math field day was held in 1975 at Potomac State College.