Alpha Omega Students Compete in National Math Championship
May 16—Four Alpha Omega Academy (AOA) students advanced to and competed in the National Championship in Math Olympics. They were competing against fellow Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) schools.
From an initial pool of 36 AOA competitors, Rhett Anderson, Knox Tanksley, Grace Chen, and Callum Knox were the last of their Huntsville peers standing. Competitions at the local and division (state) levels, now concluded with these pupils taking part in the determinative exam with students from across the nation and world.
More than 11,000 children compete in Math Olympics. More than 400 participated in the National Championship, held April 30 to May 2.
Charlotte Collier, AOA's ACSI School Coordinator, explained that third through eighth grade students started with a locally administered paper test, which is submitted, graded, and a second test is administered statewide against 20 schools. From that statewide division, 15 students in each grade were advanced to the National Championship.
"They're sweethearts," Collier said of the four students that competed in the championship. "These students are demonstrating the strength of our classical teaching method that they've been taught since Kindergarten for higher level math skills," said Collier.
Christi Volker, AOA sixth grade math teacher, credits exposing the students to a curriculum that emphasizes critical thinking, among other higher standards. "Teaching memorization from early ages, helps to feed their thirst for knowledge, and them to perform well on these tests," said Volker.
Volker describes the AOA competitors as active and deeply engaged. Grace Chen is a cross-country runner and studies Chinese. "She puts in the effort in class, does the work, and digs deeper," said Volker of Chen.
Callum Knox excels at track and soccer, and Knox Tanksley does cross country.
Volker says this years number of local students competing in the National Championships is a, "banner moment."
Molli Thompson, third grade teacher at AOA, describes Rhett Anderson as hardworking, bright, and gifted in theater. "He's a character," said Thompson.
"It made me feel proud to see him and the others excel at something they worked so hard to accomplish," said Thompson.
"It is a huge accomplishment, for not only the students but also for the teachers and parents who work diligently each day to prepare AOA's students for academic success," said Collier.
Results were announced by ACSI on May 13 in a press release.
For the national reasoning competition, winners for each grade level included: 3rd grade- Abigail Chu from Eastside Christian, WA; 4th grade- Lucas Forrey from Tri-City Christian, CA; 5th grade- William Li from Los Altos Christian, CA; 6th grade- JJ Liang from Providence Christian, GA; 7th grade- Clark Hartman from Grace Christian, OH; 8th grade- Jaden Huang from Veritas Chrisitan, MA, Zhiqian Wang from Prestonwood Christian-Plano, TX.
For the national computation competition, winners for each grade level included: 3rd grade-Donovan Chen from Olive Branch Christian, CA, Leona Jiao from Valley Christian Elementary, CA, Olivia Zamora from Round Rock Christian, TX; 4th grade- Madalyn Tan from Eastside Christian, WA; 5th grade- Gabriela Valencia from Weston Christian, FL; 6th grade- Tanya Chiang from Trinity Christian, TX; 7th grade- Caleb Cho from New Covenant, CA; 8th grade- Calista Tjandra from California Crosspoint, CA.
