Athlone student top MATHlete
An Athlone student has emerged as the county’s top MATHlete.
Sam Fannin, a fifth class student from Scoil na gCeithre Máistrí, is Westmeath’s top MATHlete, with the second round of challenges having taken place last week as part of the new and exciting national maths challenge.
Last week saw a surge in the number of entrants, with the latest figures revealing that over 1,000 students and 200 teachers are now registered to compete in the maths competition which has captured the imagination of the nation’s students. This represents a weekly increase of almost 50%.
The brainchild of Sean O’Sullivan, the challenge is supported by the Department of Education and Skills and National Education Centres across Ireland.
Mr O’Sullivan said: “Maths is a necessary key to unlocking economic progress and scientific and technical development. We are delighted to see that over 1,000 students throughout Ireland have already accepted the challenge to improve themselves and their futures by joining the MATHletes Challenge.'
“We appreciate all the efforts by teachers across the country to bring excitement, achievement and recognition to the teaching of maths. The maths skill level of every single student can be improved by taking on the MATHletes Challenge.”
Students and teachers can still signup now and start competing: the earlier a student signs up, the more time they have to gain points in the competition. There is still plenty of time to top the leaderboards at mathletes.ie.
With over €20,000 in prizes and the title of MATHletes Challenge Champion 2014 on offer, MATHletes will see students in each county competing online and face to face in county and provincial finals, with top scorers advancing to the national finals, which are scheduled to take place in early May.
Check the website for leaderboards, new weekly challenge problems, and tips for teachers to give MATHletes a more focused training experience. Students can register at mathletes.ie or find out more about MATHletes on Twitter @MATHletes_ie or go to the MATHletes Challenge Facebook page.