The 20th annual Oahu Chapter MathCounts Competition was held February 22, 2003 at Kamehameha Schools. This was the largest Oahu Chapter competition since it’s beginning in 1984. The Kalama Dining Hall was just about overflowing with student mathletes. To help celebrate 20 years, a hot lunch was served to the students, coaches, volunteers, and spectators. The lunch included chili and rice, kernel corn, macaroni salad, juice, and happy anniversary cake.
The first place team trophies went to Iolani School and the team of Aaron Fong, Leon Hou, Daniel Lum, and Kelli Young. The Iolani coaches are Li Ann Wada, Jill Stewart, and Annette Matsumoto. They will display the Hawaii Society of Professional Engineers’ Perpetual Team Trophy at Iolani until next year’s competition.
The Hawaii Society of Professional Engineers (HSPE) including its local chapters on Oahu, the Big Island of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai are the local sponsors of MathCounts. Major Hawaii corporate sponsors include Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. Dr. Michael Chun, President and Headmaster, Kamehameha Schools, is the MathCounts Chairman. He is supported by Rowena Blaisdell and Pauline Marcello, both of Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate, who annually leads a steering committee of engineers and educators to put on these competitions.
The Oahu Chapter Competition consisted of the Sprint Round(40 minutes and 30 problems), Target Rounds(four pairs of problems with 6 minutes per pair), Team Round(20 minutes and ten problems), and Countdown Round(pairs of mathletes compete against each other and the clock). The qualifiers for the Countdown Round are the top eight Mathletes as a result of their total scores in the Sprint and Target Rounds. They included Eugene So (Home school) in first place, Aaron Fong in second place, Roydan Ongie of Highlands in third place, Philip Mocz of Mililani in fourth place, Daniel Lum in fifth place, Robert Shimizu of Iolani in sixth place, Lucia Mocz of Mililani in seventh place, and Lori Arakaki of Iolani in eighth place. Last year as 7th graders, So placed second, and Ongie placed 9th.
The top four winners in the Countdown Round were So in first, Lucia Mocz in second, Ongie in third, and Philip Mocz in fourth place. They all received Dave & Busters power cards.
Besides the Iolani School team in first place, Punahou School was second, Mililani Middle School was third, Kawananakoa Intermediate was fourth, Kamehameha School was fifth, Niu Valley Middle School was sixth, Kaimuki Middle School was seventh, Washington Middle School was eighth, Highlands Intermediate was ninth, and Stevenson Middle School was tenth. The top six schools advance to the State Competition.
The Master of Ceremonies was Ken Morikami of the Hawaii Society of Professional Engineers. The awards presenters included Sister John Joseph Gilligan of Hawaii Catholic Schools; Clayton Fujie, Deputy Superintendent, Department of Education; Chuck Freedman, Vice President, Corporate Relations, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.; and Dr. Sheryl Nojima, President of the Honolulu Chapter, HSPE.
MathCounts thanks its major sponsors Aloha Airlines and Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. for their continued support and generosity. Proctor and scorer volunteers for this competition came from Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., the US Army Corps of Engineers, SSFM International, Thermal Engineering Corp, ASME, ASCE, UHM, The Gas Company, PHNSY, and KAI Hawaii.
MathCounts is the nationwide math coaching and competition for middle school students. It promotes student interest in math by making math achievement as challenging, exciting and prestigious as a school sport. The missions of MathCounts is to increase interest and involvement in mathematics among all intermediate school students in order to assist in developing a technically literate population essential to U.S. global competitiveness and the quality of life.