Annandale Students Medal in County Math Competition

Competing against schools from across Southern California, Annandale Elementary School's sixth grade math team earned a silver medal in Saturday's Los Angeles County Office of Education Math Field Day at Wilson Middle School in Glendale.

The team, which comprised sixth graders Angel Alarcon, Caleb Gourdin, Michael Ramirez and Jayson Calulot, beat out squads from districts like South Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank and Alhambra according to Annandale Principal Marco Nava.

All four students are enrolled in program, which seeks to provide additional educational opportunities for exceptional students.

Students from Melrose Avenue and Cheremoya Elementary School also participated in the competition, and shared supplies with Annandale.

According to Nava, the Annandale sixth graders won the silver medal in the problem solving portion of the test. The competition also featured computational and conceptual sections.

The team has been practicing for the competition since January under math teacher Lulu Chen, Nava said. Students were required to stay after school twice a week and complete extra homework assignments.

The students also received support from Occidental College, who provided a math tutor in student Hannah Schwartz. Professor Alan Knoer also helped sponsor the team by raising funds to cover the cost of participating in the competition.

Nava said that Annandale's Math team comprises a total of eight members, but the four with the best chemistry were sent to the competition to represent the school.

On Monday morning,  an assembly was held to honor the entire team for their months of hard work.

"This accomplishment really serves as a motivation to all our students to get involved with math," Nava said. "Even though the students who participated in the team were part of our Gifted and Talented program, we want to show students that these types of opportunities are open to everyone."