The inaugural fourth grade Math Masters team at Kenwood School shone brightly at the regional competition held in St. Paul April 28.
Students competed as teams and individually on six sets of mathematical problems. The Kenwood students made up two teams who placed sixth and ninth in a field of 22. In individual competition, Ben Keller took first place, and Mason Fitzgerald took ninth among a field of 92 contestants.
Laura Murphy, Kenwood parent and East Isles resident, coached the team to their success. “As the only team from Minneapolis Public Schools to compete in Math Masters this year, our mathletes felt a big responsibility to represent Minneapolis well,” said Coach Laura, “and they surely did! We couldn’t be prouder of the entire team.”
Coach Laura decided to start the team at Kenwood School this year because she still has fond memories of participating in the competition as an elementary student in the 1990s and has plans to coach both a fourth and fifth grade team next year at the school.
Kenwood School offers advanced math for students beginning in fourth grade. All Kenwood fourth graders were invited to join this year’s Math Masters team, and 11 students decided to sign up. The experience was underwritten by a donor so there was no cost for any of the mathletes to participate. Everyone on the team had the opportunity to work with Coach Laura and other volunteer coaches on sample problems and team strategies during practices held during the six week season that began in March.
In all, over 5,000 students were expected to compete at more than 50 sites throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. Math Masters is designed to promote excellence in critical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities, as well as provide recognition to students for academic effort and achievement. If you’re interested in volunteering as a parent or community member to help coach next year’s Kenwood teams, please reach out to Coach Laura at lauramurphy.mn@gmail.com.
