For the second consecutive year, the Newton College & Career Academy (NCCA) Math Team is the region champion 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.
Coached by Kelly Elder, the NCCA team includes Joseph Cloer, Natalie Henderson, Noah Larson, Emma Grace Lumpkin, and Ian White.
“It's such an honor to get to work with these amazing students,” said Elder. “They are a cohesive team always striving to learn more and help each other grow. I am so proud of their dedication to prepare for competitions, as most are involved in other extracurricular activities. I look forward to hearing about the accomplishments of the seniors and how our team will progress next year as we add new members.”
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. “This is the second year NCCA students swept the regional High School Math Competition. The students are relentless in their desire and love for math. I appreciate their hard work, and on behalf of our school system, I thank our math sponsors and our math instructional specialists for creating challenging and engaging opportunities to prepare the 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.