May 10, 2011
Prince Philip Students Top the Podium at Math Olympics
Train A, traveling 100 kilometers per hour (kph), leaves Westford heading toward Eastford, 400 kilometers away. At the same time Train B, traveling 120 kph, leaves Eastford heading toward Westford. When do the two trains meet? How far from each city do they meet?
Problems such as this one are long thought to be the cause of many sleepless nights for those apprehensive about math. However, the same can’t be said of the student “mathletes” at Prince Philip Public School who tackled the toughest equations en route to winning the regional Math Olympics held in Beamsville in late April. The Niagara Falls students' strong showing at the regionals earned them an invite to represent the region at the Ontario Association of Mathematics Education (OAME) provincial championships in June.
Schools across the DSBN were invited to send two teams of four to take part in the regional competition at Beamsville District Secondary. Students took part in three events, an individual, grade pairs and combined team, with the results of each contest contributing to the team total. The teams from Prince Philip scored the two highest totals and both will be Toronto-bound to crunch numbers alongside the best in the province on June 3rd.
“In addition for having a natural aptitude for math, our students did a lot of thoughtful preparation in advance of the test and had the support of excellent teachers. This is a great accomplishment and our students should be very proud of themselves. We wish them the best of luck at the provincial competition,” said Mario Zeoli, Principal.