Using only their brains and a box of spaghetti, local middle school students represented the Shuswap in several math-based competitions.
Shuswap Middle School’s math team, coached by SMS teacher Gilbert Hobart, attended the regional Skills Canada Math Challengers competition at Okanagan College in Kelowna on February 21. The competition involved students taking part in math challenges both as groups and as individuals.
The SMS team, comprised entirely of Grade 8 students, was split into two groups with one going on to finish second in the team rounds.
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Nick Wright, Nico Miedema and Kai Wilson qualified for the ‘Face-Off’ round. Wright was the top SMS performer finishing in third place.
Some competitors who attended last year as SMS students returned this year as SAS Jackson students.
“It was great to see them there as it shows they enjoyed the competition so much last year with SMS that they made certain to attend again this year,” Hobart said.
Fifteen students from SMS attended the Skills Canada spaghetti bridge building competition at Thompson Rivers’ University in Kamloops on March 6.
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That competition puts students in teams of three to build a bridge from pasta. SMS finished the event with four out of five teams building bridges that withstood the one-kilogram weight test for one minute. The highest placing team came in fourth place in the competition.
Eagle River Secondary students also had a strong performance at both the bridge building competition in Kelowna and another at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.
At Okanagan College, in the secondary spaghetti bridge building division, a student from Lumby claimed top spot but second through fifth went to Eagle River Secondary students.
@CameronJHT
Cameron.thomson@saobserver.net
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