The junior high and high school math departments received an unprecedented number of awards at Math Field Day, earning distinctions for both the campus and individual students, April 17.

While the junior high took 1st place in Small School Division and 1st place overall, the high school won 1st place in Small School Division. The campus also was awarded for having the largest number of participating students.

In addition to the school’s awards, some students were recognized in their individual events. Junior Abel Carreon earned 3rd place in the 9-12 Game Tournament; J.D. Freitas and Caleb Kennedy won 1st Place in 6-8 Leap Frog; Tyler Laird and Daniel Moore took 2nd Place in 6-8 Leap Frog; and Annalise Rosik earned 2nd place in the 6-8 Game Tournament.

Math Field Day, held each April at California State University, Fresno, serves to “provide capable students with the opportunity to meet and compete with students from other schools and to receive the recognition that they so richly deserve,” according to its Web site. The competitions include the Game Tournament, Leap Frog and Mad Hatter, which are separated into divisions according to grade level.

Math department head Mike Fenton arranges for his students to compete at the event each year.

“Math Field Day was awesome,” Fenton said. “I enjoyed hearing all the kids’ names being called. It was fun to have some kids totally exceed my expectations.”

Although the junior high received more awards, Fenton said that the high school’s victory came as a pleasant surprise.

“Even though the middle school won a bigger award, there are some more heavy-hitting high schools there – like Clovis West and Leland High and University High – so for us to win the Small School division over UHS was the sweetest thing,” Fenton said. “And it wasn’t really on the radar; I was going to be quite happy with second place.”

In preparation for Math Field Day, Fenton introduced his students to the various contests and spent three days reviewing material.

“That [preparation] gave me an idea of who was good at particular events,” Fenton said. “It also gave the kids a chance to see what the problems were like, and a few of the kids ended up liking them, and they wanted to practice some more on their own. I think that’s a big reason why we did even better than last year in the junior high.”

Going beyond the California State standards, Fenton said that he has his students participate in Math Field Day in order to expand their capabilities.

“As we’re trying to make sure that we’re really good with the standards, it’s important for me that I give – especially the top students – an opportunity to go beyond that,” Fenton said. “It’s important for me that they’re not just getting an A; that’s not testing all of their abilities. Instead, they’re being stretched [through Math Field Day].”

In seeking other ways to stretch his students, Fenton has planned to administer next year the Mathematical Association of America’s AMC 8, AMC 10 and AMC 12 series of competitions.

“We’ll do probably twice as many contests next year as this year, but I don’t imagine we’ll go beyond that,” Fenton said. “Instead we’ll try to get better and better at those two or three things that we are doing. Maybe one day we’ll win the overall [award] for the high school.”

For more information, e-mail Fenton and read the April 23, 2009, article, Campus triumphs at Math Field Day.