Bobcats Making Headlines

Front: Vyshnavi Gade, 4th grade state champion, Jarod Dolezal, 5th grade state champion, Mary Drummer, overall state champion. Back: Austin Tullis, 5th place overall state, Sydney Mann, overall state runner-up

Marshalltown students dominated the web-based First in Math contest this year, with students from MCSD taking the top five spots in the state, including the state championship.

The official FIM competition closed at the end of April, and points were tallied.  Mary Drummer, Lenihan 6th grader, came out at the head of the class with an amazing 18,800 points, taking the prize as the top overall individual champion in the state.  This is Mary’s second consecutive state title after winning last year in the combined grade category. She is the daughter of Roger and Ricarda Drummer of Marshalltown.

Not far behind in second place overall was Sydney Mann, Lenihan sixth grader, followed by Hoglan fourth grader,

Vyshnavi Gade, in third place.  Rounding off Marshalltown’s top five state placers was sixth grader, Austin Tullis. Students are able to compete at the local, state, and national level in both the individual and team categories. Each point earned represents two correct math problems. These students were competing in a field of several thousand students in first through eighth grades across the state.

“This program along with the district’s newly-adopted math curriculum seems to be paying off as math test scores are increasing and students are welcoming the challenge to solve harder and harder math problems,” said Karen Roessler, FIM coach at Lenihan.  “First in Math combines the students’ enjoyment of technology and the excitement of competition in the context of mathematics. FIM was adopted building-wide for the first time at Lenihan this year, thanks to the fundraising efforts of our student body.”

Not only did Marshalltown town have the top fourth and fifth grade individuals, Jarod Dolezal, Lenihan 5th grader, took top honors in the fifth grade individual competition.  Each student competing on the FIM site is able to complete leveled skills sets which range from basic fact mastery to eighth grade algebra as well as play education games based on math concepts and the 24 Game® which requires rapid mental math.

In the team categories, MCDS students also fared well with the Lenihan sixth grade team, “Robot”, coached by Karen Roessler, placing first in the state in a field of 50 teams and Mrs. Woerner’s team, “Helix”, placing fifth.  In the fifth grade category, the team coached by Ms. Gonzales placed third in the state.  The students in Mrs. Brockman’s and Mrs. Plett’s fourth grade teams placed fourth and sixth in the state against 85 other teams.