The top female math students from eight schools in the San Gabriel Valley gathered on Saturday, December 9, at the 9th Annual Alverno High School Math Field Day. The team from South Pasadena Middle School took first place.
The format for the event was similar to academic decathlon meets. The girls were arranged in a row of four. The first student was challenged by four questions, while her teammates cheered. After four questions, the students rotated.
Following each question, the scores were posted for all to see. The large crowd of parents and teachers cheered loudly for all the teams.
SPMS correctly answered all 16 questions. The problems covered all areas of mathematics, with an emphasis on number sense, algebra and geometry.
QTπ's Tiffany, Aashrita, Michelle and Gloria are commended by Master of Cermonies Professor Norman Frank.
MATHCOUNTS POWERHOUSE
MATHCOUNTS is the most pretigious problem solving competition for middle schools in the United States. Sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers, over 6000 schools compete nationwide.
On Saturday, February 3, SPMS competed in the regional round at U. C. Riverside. The So Pas Tigers took 1st place as a team and placed 7 individuals in the top 12, including 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Shining brightly were Jung Hun Koh, Nikita Kitaev, Ivan Pyzow, Jasmine Griffin, Daniel Pyon, Cody Dunn, Tiffany Chen, and Aashrita.
The state round will take place March 17 at U. C. Irvine.
SPMS TRIUMPHS
IN MATH FIELD DAY
Over 200 students from 8 middle schools in the San Gabriel Valley gathered at Mark Keppel High School on Saturday, February 24, for the 27th Annual Alhambra Math Field Day. South Pasadena students took first place in eight of the nine events. Huntington Middle School of San Marino ranked second, and Brightwood Intermediate of Alhambra was third.
The following students were recognized for their outstanding efforts:
Advanced Mathematical Concepts-Jung Hun Koh(1st), Alex Zhang(3rd)
Math Speech on Infinity-Jasmine Griffin(1st), Aashrita Mangu(2nd)
7th Grade Speed Math-Daniel Pyon(1st), Max White(3rd)
Calculator-Jack Long(1st)
Sudoku Quest-Jon Weiner(3rd)
Math Logic Games and Engineering-Jonathan Lee/Max White/Michael Stone(1st), Ken Siew/Cody Dunn(2nd), Melissa Chan/Jon Weiner/Lana Ho/Marian Slocum(3rd)
Also recognized for placing among the top ten in their event were Gloria Kim, Marian Slocum, Ha-Eun Kim, Janet Kim, Tiffany Chen, Cody Dunn, Cole Rainey, Hannah Kan, Grace Kim, Jonathan Lee, Catalina Lee, Melissa Chan, Nicholas Leung, Lana Ho, Luka Douridas, and Himal Suthar.
From the dessert to the sea, from Bakersfield to San Diego, the top middle school math teams competed at U. C. Irvine on Saturday, March 17. The forty best private and public schools in the southland battled in the 25th annual MATHCOUNTS competition.
The South Pasadena Middle School team of Jung Hun Koh, Nikita Kitaev, Jasmine Griffin, and Ivan Pyzow captured the 2nd place trophy. Ridgecrest Intermediate and Palos Verdes Intermediate, both in the Palos Verdes Unified School District, placed 1st and 3rd respectively.
Jung Hun placed 3rd individually among the 150 competing mathletes.
Seventh grader Daniel Pyon competed as an individual and was among the top ranked for his grade level.
MATHCOUNTS is the most competitive math event for middle schools in the nation. Over 6,000 schools and 500,000 students compete nationwide each year. The program is sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers and Raytheon.
DON BOSCO TECH
SPMS took first place at the 35th Annual Don Bosco Math Field Day. This is the third straight year that the Tiger Cubs have triumphed in this prestigious Southland event. San Marino took 2nd place, and Mirman School of Santa Monica place third.
A total of 244 students participated, and So Pas placed 17 among the top 28 individuals. Jung Hun Koh ranked 1st, Nikita Kitaev and Ivan Pyzow placed 3rd, and Ethan Lee ranked 4th. Also recognized for their outstanding scores were Jasmine Griffin, Nicholas Leung, Jack Long, Alexander Zhang, Luka Douridas, Davy Li, Anthony San Pedro, Michael Stone, Jonathan Lee, Tiffany Chen, Cody Dunn, Daniel Pyon, and Rin Sone.
MATH KANGAROO 2007
Math Kangaroo is an international math competition, widely known throughout eastern Europe. Over 4 million students from 43 countries participated last year. Ten years ago it was made available to American students and SPMS first learned about it in 2005. The problem solving questions that are asked are identical throughout the world, translated into multiple languages.
Over 1200 American students, grades 2 through 12, participated this year. SPMS placed 19 students among the national leaders.
In the 6th grade, Aritro Biswas (2nd), Moses Kim (3rd), and Ady Friedman (13th) were nationally ranked. 7th graders Daniel Pyon (3rd), Fedor Kossakovski (4th), Anton Dyudin (5th), Max White (7th), Lia Lohr (9th), Aashrita Mangu (12th), Max Wolff (13th), Gavin Tse (14th), and Melody Sue (15th) were national leaders. And in the 8th grade, Jung Hun Koh (1st), Nikita Kitaev (5th), Jasmine Griffin (7th), Ivan Pyzow (9th), Alexander Zhang (10th), and Jack Long (11th) rounded out an superior showing by the Tiger Cubs!
OPEN HOUSE AWARDS CEREMONY
Outstanding achievement in mathematics was recognized at the 22nd Annual South Pasadena Middle School Open House Awards ceremony on May 24.
Eighth grader Jung Hun Koh was presented a trophy as Mathematician of the Year. Koh led the South Pasadena Tiger Cub team in fourteen local, state, and national events.
Koh placed 3rd in Southern California in the pretigious MATHCOUNTS competition. He submitted perfect scores in the AMERICAN MATH 8 competition, the MATH OLYMPIAD, CONTINENTAL MATH LEAGUE, and the CALIFORNIA MATH LEAGUE.
The United States Math Olympiad Committee sent commendations to six SPMS students for their outstanding results in the 2007 AMC10, a math exam used to determine the top 10th grade math students nationwide! CONGRATULATIONS to Jasmine Griffin, Nikita Kitaev, Jung Hun Koh, Nicholas Leung, Ivan Pyzow, and Alexander Zhang. More information is available at http://www.unl.edu/amc/
Eighth graders Jung Hung Koh and Ivan Pyzow aced the CALIFORNIA MATH LEAGUE, going 40 for 40. Superior scores were also submitted by 8th graders Jasmine Griffin, Nikita Kitaev, Kevin Yin, and Alexander Zhang. The 8th grade team placed 5th among all private and public schools in the state.
Seventh grader Tiffany Chen’s 39 out of 40 ranked her 3rd in the state. Other outstanding scores in the 7th grade included Daniel Pyon, Cody Dunn, Aashrita Mangu, and Max White. As a team, the 7th grade ranked 5th in California. The sixth grade, led by Patrick Gan, Moses Kim, Henrik Wang, and Thomas Chang, placed 7th in California. Full details are available at: http://www.mathleague.com/
MATHCOUNTS is the most prestigious middle school math competition in America. Sponsored by Raytheon and the National Society of Professional Engineers, over 6000 schools participated this year. The SPMS team of Jung Hun Koh, Ivan Pyzow, Nikita Kitaev, Jasmine Griffin, Daniel Pyon, Tiffany Chen, Cody Dunn, and Aashrita Mangu placed first in the East Los Angeles region. The team advanced to the state finals, where they placed 2nd in Southern California. More information is available at www.mathcounts.org
MATHFAX is a geometry problem solving event. Led by Ivan Pyzow, Jasmine Griffin, Alexander Zhang, and Nikita Kitaev, the team was 5th among 93 competing schools. Full details are available at www.educontest.com.
The PURPLE COMET MATH MEET is sponsored by the University of Wisconsin. Jung Hun Koh, Ivan Pyzow, Nikita Kitaev, Jasmine Griffin, Daniel Pyon, and Tiffany Chen placed 2nd in the United States. More information at http://purplecomet.org.
Over 90,000 middle school students competed in the SIGMA MATH LEAGUE. Led by 7th grader Cody Dunn and 8th grader Nikita Kitaev, each scoring 39 out of 40, SPMS placed 2nd in the United States.
The CONTINENTAL MATH LEAGUE provides problem solving competitions for each grade level. Sixth graders Alice Kim and David Liu had the top 6th grade scores. The team tied for 1st place among 346 competing schools in the nation. In the 7th grade, Tiffany Chen and Cody Dunn aced the competition and led SPMS to a 1st place tie with two other middle schools in the United States. Ivan Pyzow and Jung Hun Koh scored a perfect 30 out of 30 and inspired the eighth graders to a tie for first with two other middle schools. See www.continentalmathematicsleague.com.
Sixth grader Moses Kim placed 1st in Southern California in the Korean-American Math Competition. More information can be found at www.ksea-sc.org.
THE LAST EVENT--LOS ANGELES COUNTY MATH FIELD DAY
South Pasadena Middle School seventh graders Tiffany Chen, Cody Dunn, Daniel Pyon, and Max White placed first in the 22nd Annual Los Angeles County Math Field Day. The event was held on June 2 at Burroughs High School in Burbank.
The competition consisted of three categories—problem solving, conceptual understanding, and computational skills. By taking gold medals in problem solving and conceptual understanding, and the silver medal in computational skills Tiffany, Cody, Daniel and Max were declared the champions of the county.
The 8th grade team of Jasmine Griffin, Nikita Kitaev, Ivan Pyzow, and Alexander Zhang earned silver medals in problem solving and computational skills.
Sixth graders Patrick Gan, Moses Kim, William Sun, and Wendy Tsai received the gold medal in problem solving and bronze medal in computational skills.
THANK YOU FOR AN AWESOME YEAR. AND FOR THE "LOVLIEST LEI"!!!
8TH GRADERS: KEEP SHINING BRIGHTLY IN HIGH SCHOOL!
