Local tournament provides additional venue for math students to compete

Local tournament

provides additional venue for math students to compete

The invitations

are in the mail and preparations are being made as Fayette County High

School gears up to host nearby school systems in a yearly tradition.

For approximately

10 years, the Fayette County School System has sponsored the Fayette County

Invitational High School Math Tournament. Math teams from school systems

in surrounding counties are invited. Each year, one of Fayette's high

schools takes its turn as host of the competition. This year it is FCHS.

"This

tournament is always a lot of fun," says Dennis Hembry, math teacher

at the school and coordinator of the competition. "We always look

forward to this local tournament because it gives us a chance to compete

one-on-one with our neighboring school systems."

Math teams

can compete on two levels: varsity, which involves solving various types

of math problems including trigonometry and calculus, and junior varsity,

which is limited to algebra I and II and geometry. The test format is

multiple choice and ciphering, where students work together to calculate

an answer. Contestants compete individually as well as on teams.

Fayette County

math coordinator Kay Seabolt writes the test so that all high schools

within the county can be allowed to take part in the tournament. The first,

second and third place winners are eligible to compete in the state math

tournament in May. Approximately seven to eight school systems attend

each year.

"We always

have good participation for this event. A lot of the smaller school systems

don't attend other tournaments because they are competing against bigger

schools. Since this competition is local, there is a lot less pressure

on the students," Hembry comments.

Seabolt says

it is unusual for a school system to host a localized tournament.

"More

of the larger private schools have similar events but it is unique to

see a public school system hosting a tournament. We chose to do so because

we felt we had a professional obligation to give service