Annual Math 24 competition held in Beaver County
CENTER TWP. – After being forced to cancel in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Beaver County Math 24 competition was held on March 9, at the Community College of Beaver County.
The competition featured students from different school districts in Beaver County, such as from Beaver Area, Beaver Falls, Blackhawk, Central Valley, Freedom Area, Hopewell, New Brighton Area, Riverside, Rochester Area, and Western Beaver, as well as the Ellwood City Area School District in Lawrence County, which has a portion of its district in Beaver County.
The Math 24 competition is one of the different academic games competitions that are held in the county throughout the school year through the Beaver County Gifted Consortium.
Glory Shychuck, a 6-12 grade gifted coordinator for the Rochester Area School District, served as one of the main coordinators of the event.
She said the event featured around 200 students in grades 4-8.
The other two coordinators were Elise Gorman and Jeff Gonzalez, a teacher at the Rochester Area School District and a science/gifted teacher at Riverside School District, respectively.
The event was sponsored by the different Lions Clubs in Beaver County, which gave students trophies, as well as different gift bags.
The winners list
There were four winners per grade level.
The fourth-grade winners were Molly Gilliand from Riverside, Dougie Landy from Central Valley, Graa Prestia from Riverside, and Daniel Roperti from Central Valley.
The fifth-grade winners were Jaesa McGraw from Western Beaver, Asher Pettner from Riverside, Logan Ware from Western Beaver, and Ryan Stief from Western Beaver.
The sixth-grade winners were Taraji Backur from Western Beaver, Kelsy Glover from New Brighton, Myiah Kampfer from Western Beaver, and Rui Ming Liu from Beaver.
The seventh-grade winners were Chloe Lundy from Freedom, Luke McLean from Central Valley, Audrey Mooney from Freedom, and Riley Puceich from Central Valley.
The eighth-grade winners were Susan Bishop from Riverside, Gabby Galatis from Central Valley, Elise Gerrich from New Brighton, and Calla Reynolds from Freedom.
How the game works
Shychuck said Math 24 is a card game in which the goal is to either use addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division to have the numbers on the card equal the number 24.
She said the ability levels on the cards gradually increase based on both the grade level, as well as the further along in the competition one gets.
Shychuck said the cards can range from basic with simple numbers and solutions to figure out, to more complex solutions and “double cards” to figure out.
She said there were some students who were immediately able to figure out the solutions to the cards once they are flipped over.
“It’s one of our most enjoyable competitions,” Shychuck said. “The students really enjoy it.”
What it means to be back in-person
The competition, like a lot of the consortium’s events in 2020-21, was forced to be canceled in 2021.
Shychuck said the 2020 Math 24 event was the last event they were able to have before the pandemic, as it was held in March 2020 a week before the country went into lockdown.
“We really missed being in person,” she said.
Shychuck said it feels good to have in-person competitions again for different reasons.
She said it is important for students to interact and bond in person, to socialize and meet new people, and possibly make new friends.
She also said competitions like these help students to push their academic minds further in fun and creative ways.
Shychuck said she felt like the students at this year’s competition really wanted to be there and compete at a “fierce” level.
She said over this past school year, the consortium has been having in-person events again, while following CDC and state guidelines, as well as being as accommodating as possible to student safety needs and concerns.
Nicholas Vercilla is a staff reporter for the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at nvercilla@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Beaver County's annual Math 24 competition held this month
