Cardinal Student Headed to MATHCOUNTS State Competition
posted February 24, 2023
Next month, Cardinal Community School District student Alivia Replogle is headed to the state MATHCOUNTS competition after success at a recent chapter competition.
“This is a phenomenal achievement,” says Karen Fairchild, Cardinal CSD MATHCOUNTS coach and high school math teacher.
MATHCOUNTS is a national program providing students in 6th through 8th grade the opportunity to compete in live math contests. This is Cardinal’s first year participating in the MATHCOUNTS program. Mrs. Fairchild teaches an accelerated 8th grade section of Algebra I and thought the students might enjoy it so she suggested it.
“I simply asked the students in that class if they would like to participate in a math competition against other schools.” Mrs. Fairchild says. “In the future, I would love to open it up to any Cardinal students in 6th through 8th grade.”
Mrs. Fairchild prepared the students for the competition through their in-class Algebra I work, practice with prior years’ MATHCOUNTS tests, and MATHCOUNTS training materials. All of their hard work paid off at the chapter competition where they competed against mathletes from Maharishi School, Evans Middle School in Ottumwa, Pella Middle School, Pella Christian, and Oskaloosa Middle School.
“I truly could not be more proud of how the Cardinal Mathletes competed at the chapter competition,” Mrs. Fairchild says. “Taking them to the chapter competition is one of the highlights of my teaching career.”
While all of the students did a wonderful job and trained diligently, Alivia stepped her training up a notch by taking a math course online independently and coming into Mrs. Fairchild’s classroom for practice during WIN time
“Alivia did an amazing job qualifying for state, especially since this is her first year competing,” Mrs. Fairchild says. “Other schools send mathletes to competition for two and sometimes even three years, so it is just an incredible accomplishment.”
She will compete at the state MATHCOUNTS competition on March 23 at the FFA Enrichment Center in Ankeny. We are so proud of her and wishing her the very best.
Interested in Joining MATHCOUNTS?
We would encourage any students going into 6th, 7th, or 8th grade next school year to reach out to Mrs. Fairchild for more information about MATHCOUNTS at karen.fairchild@cardinalcomet.com.
“I would encourage students to be in MATHCOUNTS because it is a good experience for everyone,” Mrs. Fairchild says. “Middle school is an incredible time for student growth in mathematics, and MATHCOUNTS is a great facilitator of that growth.”
