The Newton College & Career Academy (NCCA) Math Team is the region champion this year after scoring first place honors at the Griffin Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) High School Math Competition. The math team competed against other high school teams from Butts, Fayette, Henry, Lamar, Pike, Spalding, and Upson counties.
“I am extremely proud of our young team,” said Chad Walker, principal of NCCA. “They competed against teams from several other counties and held their own at the competition. Considering our team is comprised of one sophomore and three juniors, I can only imagine the success they will have going forward. I’m definitely excited about what the future holds for them!”
Coached by Ashley Sanders, the NCCA team includes sophomore Emma Grace Lumpkin and juniors Noah Larson, Natalie Henderson, and Joseph Cloer.
According to Dr. Stephanie Gordy, executive director of Griffin RESA, the objectives of the Griffin RESA High School Mathematics Contest are to stimulate interest in mathematics, give recognition to outstanding mathematics students, and provide healthy academic competition.
“Each high school participating in the contest was eligible to enter one team composed of up to five students,” said Gordy. “The students participated in two events: a written exam and a ciphering round.”
She explained, “The four highest scores of the students taking the written exam were used as the team score. The ciphering event was a team competition in which students answered a series of timed questions. Teams had up to three minutes to respond and were awarded points based on time used to respond correctly to each question. Team awards were given in each division. Divisions were based on student enrollment of the participating schools. Awards for the top three teams were based on the total team score on the written test and the ciphering event.”
“NCSS students continue to make us proud to serve them,” said Shundreia Neely, Director of Secondary Education for Newton County School System. “They represented their school and our district very well at the regional High School Math Competition. I know these students studied and practiced relentlessly to prepare for this competition. I thank math sponsors and our math instructional specialists for creating challenging and engaging opportunities to prepare students. Congratulations are definitely in order to each student on the team.”
“It is truly an honor to see such great mathematicians from our region work hard while having fun solving math problems,” added Gordy.