Salinas students place 3rd in global math competition

Robert Aragon's third-grade class at Dr. Oscar F. Loya Elementary School — nicknamed the Challengers — raced ahead of Japanese, Australian and Saudi Arabian classrooms to answer more than 215,000 math problems correctly in 48 hours. The Challengers got their name because they jumped into the mathematic rink despite daunting obstacles, said Magaña. Many of Aragon's students speak English as a second language and come from families hit hard by the recession, she said, breaking momentarily into tears. The competition was part of World Maths Day, which pitted students from about 56,000 schools across the globe against one another in speed arithmetic. The competition "helped us tremendously to stay focused and stay on track with the state tests," Principal Mary Magaña said.

Full article here

[posted by Andrew Brown]