Homeschoolers count their winnings in math competition

Warner Ranch resident Kristina Woodbury has captured first place individual honors in the Papago Chapter MathCounts Competition at Dobson High School.

The Veritas Homeschoolers MathCounts team, which also includes Kyrene Corridor resident Christopher Van Egmond, took third place in the team competition. Their coach is Pamela Woodbury.

Competing against more than a dozen middle schools in the Valley, the Veritas team scored third cumulatively in the three-round contest.

First, in the Sprint round, the “mathletes” scratched out answers to 30 questions in just 40 minutes—without the aid of a calculator. In the Target round competitors solved fewer, but more challenging, problems.

The final test was the Team round in which Veritas team members hurriedly huddled to determine which person should work on which problems; upon completion, they checked each other’s work to ensure accuracy.

Volunteers for the Papago Chapter MathCounts corrected the tests. Tallying individual scores as well as cumulative team scores, they produced a ranking for each team, along with a list of the top 10 individuals competing that day.

The competition then included a Countdown round, a Jeopardy-type competition in which the top 10 individuals face off two at a time. The top-ranked individual was Kristina Woodbury of Veritas Homeschoolers.

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