This year has been a most exciting and successful year for the EMS Mathcounts
team. Before and after school this team meets all year and works on advanced math
problem solving skills and feeds their math curiosity. Nearly 25 different EMS
students have attended sessions this year (a record) and 15 have competed either in
the Mathcounts competition or taken the VERY TOUGH AMC 8 exam. Of these
kids, we have had 12 sixth graders, 4 seventh graders and 8 eighth graders.
From the 10 kids (also a record) who took this year’s AMC 8 in January, Zia
Grannis had the school’s best score; and Zia, Julia Blackman, Aria Leff and
Maddie Stanton-Geddes all scored in the top half of the country.
At the Northwest Vermont Chapter Competition, held on February 8 th at UVM’s
STEM Complex, the Edmunds team competed against teams from 14 private and
public schools in several rounds of competition that lasted all day. They finished in
fourth place overall, which allowed them to move on to the state championship on
March 8 th .
At the Vermont State Competition, again held at UVM, there were 16 qualifying
teams from across the state of Vermont. The Edmunds team again placed fourth
overall, a remarkable showing against the best young mathletes in the state.
Competing on the four-member EMS team this year were Bernadette Caldwell,
Joaquin Chandler, Zia Grannis and Aidan Williamson. Other participants, who
competed as individuals at the chapter competition, were Lola Cruz, Ayanna
Harlow, Poppy Niles and Wutu Wang.
And special shout-out to EMS team captain Bernadette Caldwell, who was the only
Burlington mathlete—and the only girl—to compete in the Countdown Round at
both the chapter and state competitions. (The Countdown Round tests the top 12
scorers of the day.) This was particularly poignant as many countries celebrated
International Women’s Day on March 8 th . Way to go, Bernadette!