A team of middle school Mathletes from Floyd Dryden Middle School won the Southeast Regional MATHCOUNTS Competition held on Feb. 9.

Eighteen students from three middle schools competed in the MATHCOUNTS Regional Competition. The three schools from the Juneau area were Dzantik’I Heeni Middle School, Montessori Borealis and Floyd Dryden Middle School. Schools could bring one official team of four students participating and additional students competing as official individuals.

Teachers, coaches and students have been preparing for the Southeast Regional Competition since early fall. Students competed in written and fast-paced oral matches in subjects which include algebra, probability, statistics and geometry. Winners received prizes and trophies.

Members of the winning team from Floyd Dryden Middle School coached by Mary Borthwick are: Elizabeth Djajalie (1st Place), Chris Degener (2nd Place), Tommy Pearson (4th Place) and Joshua Pierson (6th Place). The team will now advance to the state competition, held in Anchorage on March 23.

In addition to the top team, the top two individuals not on the qualifying team will advance to the state competition. Those individuals are: Kean Buss (3rd Place) and Krishna Bathija (5th Place) both from Dzantik’I Heeni Middle School. The second place team from Dzantik’I Heeni Middle School was coached by Mary Borthwick. Team members are: Krishna Bathija, Kean Buss, Gabe Cheng and Edward Hu. The third place team from Montessori Borealis was coached by Bridget Braley. Team members are: Anna Dale, Anita Morrison, Jack Schwarting and Will Woolford.

MATHCOUNTS competitions are organized by the Alaska Society of Professional Engineers and is an annual Middle School math competition at the local/regional, state and national level.

Local sponsors include Begenyi Engineering, Boreal Controls, Mary Borthwick, Dowl HKM, Electric Power Systems, Haight & Associates, Inc., Jensen Yorba Lott, Inc., MRV Architects, NorthWind Architects, PDC Engineers, PND Engineers, Inc., R&M Engineering, Inc. Ketchikan, SPB Consulting, and Tetra Tech, Inc. Leadership is provided by members of the Alaska Engineering Education Foundation and the Alaska Society of Professional Engineers.

First Lego League team wins third in Anchorage

On Saturday, Dec. 8, the First Lego League Team, Happy Dave, competed in the Southeast FLL Competition and won awards for “Project,” “Robot Performance” and “Top Scoring Robot” (a.k.a. Spirit Stick). On Saturday, Jan. 19, they competed in the Anchorage State FLL Championship and won the “Third Place Champions Award” and, for the second year in a row, the “Global Innovation Nomination.”

The Happy Dave FLL Team is currently working on their essay trying to win an invitation to the Global Innovation this June in California, where only 20 teams worldwide get to compete. Their innovation project this year was to help astronauts with space travel. They developed a way to grow fresh food in space by using recycled paper pulp to make seed packets in order to grow microgreens while traveling in space. Microgreens are highly nutritious and have a fast growing time, plus they are lightweight and easy to grow. Astronauts only get fresh food while at the International Space Station every two months, and fresh fruits and vegetables spoil in two to three days because they have no refrigeration for food. Growing microgreens will allow astronauts to grow fresh vegetables as needed, and they can harvest what they need for up to two weeks.

Members of Happy Dave Team pose for a picture. From left, Sione Tupou, Aiden Pietan, Stig Cunningham, Kajson Cunningham and Meliame Tupou. (Courtesy Photo)