2006 23^rd HAWAII STATE MATHCOUNTS COMPETITION

Just like the noticeable parity with the professional football and hockey teams, there may be similar parity between public and private school MATHCOUNTS teams. This is the writer’s own opinion. At the 2006 Hawaii State 23^rd MATHCOUNTS Competition on March 11, Waiakea Intermediate placed third, Washington Middle fifth, Kawananakoa Middle School sixth, and Highlands intermediate seventh out of the 11 schools competing. In the written portion of the competition Dong-Gil Shin of Jarrett Middle School placed first of the 45 Mathletes competing. Of the top ten Mathletes, five were from public schools.

The first place team was Iolani School coached by Li Ann Wada and Annette Matsumoto. Team members included William Chambers, Samuel Greene, Anders Lee, and Scott Sakaida. Second place went to Punahou School coached by Evelyn Cheong with team members Alyssa Higuchi, Eric Liaw, Nicole Sato, and George Tang.

Representing the State of Hawaii at the National MATHCOUNTS Competition on May 12 in Arlington Virginia are Edward Hon of Parker School, Dong-Gil Shin of Jarrett Middle School, Nicole Sato of Punahou School, and William Chambers of Iolani School. Their places were determined in the Countdown Round. Edward Hon was very impressive in taking first place in the Countdown Round. Although the Parker School Team was not competing, Edward Hon competed as the Hawaii Chapter Individual High Scorer. Based on her Iolani School team’s first place team finish, Li Ann Wada will be the official Hawaii State Team Coach at the National Finals.

Award presenters for the 23 State Competition were Dr. Michael Chun, MATHCOUNTS Chairman and President and Headmaster, Kamehameha Schools; Clayton Fujie, Deputy Superintendent, Department of Education; Dr. Sheryl Nojima, Vice President, Hawaii Society of Professional Engineers Educational Foundation; and Bill Bonnet, Vice President, Government and Community Affairs, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. The Masters of Ceremonies was Ken Morikami of the Hawaii Society of Professional Engineers and Hawaiian Electric Company.

In his welcoming address, Dr. Chun recognized Rowena Blaisdell and Pauline Marcello, both of Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate (KSBE) for coordinating the MATHCOUNTS competitions for him. Blaisdell and Marcello have been leading the Hawaii MATHCOUNTS Steering Committee for over a decade. Dr. Chun thanked Aloha Airlines for their continual support by helping to bring over the outer island Mathletes, coaches, and coordinators.

MathCounts Steering Committee members include Rowena Blaisdell and Pauline Marcello from KSBE; from Hawaiian Electric Company, Ed Chang, Bob Isler, Queenie Komori, Ken Morikami, Barry Nakamoto, Scott Seu, and Nathan Yuen; Ron Flegal of Leeward Community College and ASME; Kyle Ginoza; Doug Kamiya; Lennie Okano; .

We must thank Lou Muzzarini of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for moderating the competitions and recruiting fellow Corps members for proctoring and scoring. Muzzarini has been involved with Hawaii MATHCOUNTS for several years now.

We also must thank the employees of Hawaiian Electric Company for proctoring and scoring the competitions. They volunteer in numbers annually to dedicate one or two Saturday mornings to help out. We hope they continue to do so as they have become well-trained and experienced proctors and scorers.