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Wisconsin Team Top Third National MATHCOUNTS
Darwin D. Behlke, P.E.
| The Lockheed Martin 23rd National MATHCOUNTS Competition was held at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, VA, on Friday, May 12, 2006. While the Wisconsin Team finished in the top third of 57 teams participating, Virginia Team finished first, Washington Team second and Indiana Team third. Wisconsin Team was 19th as shown in Fig. 1. The team members were Kyle Stankowski, 7th Grader at Mosinee Middle School, Mosinee; Valerie Shen, 8th Grader at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Madison; Peter Wear, 8th Grader at Velma Hamilton Middle School, Madison and Iris Xu, 8th Grader at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Madison. The team was coached by Michael Wage of Magellan Middle School, Appleton. |
 Fig. 2. Daesun Yim of New Jersey was the 2006 National Champion. |
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| After the Countdown Round, Daesun Yim of New Jersey was the 2006 National Champion, Fig. 2. Andrew Ardito of New York placed second. Neal Wu of Louisiana and Kevin Chen of Texas were semi-finalist. Daniel Li of VA, Nathan Benjamin of IN, Sam Keller of WA and George Silvis of MA were all quarter-finalist. Brian Hamrick of VA, Rolland Wu of CA, George Yu of MO and Arjun Puranik of IL were the other participants in the Countdown Round. The Written Rounds Winner was Neal Wu of LA. The Masters Round Winner was Daniel Li of VA. |
Fig. 3. Kristen Chandler, Director of Education is giving instruction to the Master participants, Daesun Yim, Neal Wu, Andrew Ardito and Daniel Li After half hour speech and questions the team was photographed with Sen. Kohl, Fig. 7.  Fig. 6. Sen. Kohl; J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House and Sen. Carper of Delaware Friday night we were bussed to Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air & Space Museum near Dulles International Airport for dinner and entertainment. We saw the Enterprise which was the prototype space shuttle, Fig. 8. We also saw the Mars Omni-Max feature. Saturday was free time to tour Washington D.C. Catching the Metro, we were off to Arlington Cemetery. First was the information center for a map, then off to JFK’s Eternal Flame, Fig. 9. |
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Fig. 4. Kyle Stankowski and Iris Xu made the “2006 Two Time Returning Mathletes” Kyle Stankowski and Iris Xu were among 34 Mathletes that were “2006 Two Time Returning Mathletes” The five “2006 Three Time Returning Mathletes” were Andrew Ardito of NY, Lucas Hubbard of ME, Alec Patterson of MT, Neal Wu of LA and Daesun Yim of NJ. While the competition took place on Friday, the team participated in other activities. Shortly after arriving, we rushed to the Hart Senate building to meet Senator Russ Feingold for a photo opt, Fig. 5.
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 Fig. 5. Wisconsin Team with Senator Fiengold |
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| An intern from Feingold’s office (former Mathlete) showed us to the Senate Dining Room for a quick bite to eat. After swallowing our last bite, we were off to the Hart Atrium to meet with Senator Herb Kohl. He was meeting with the 8th graders from West Bend. During the meeting, J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House and Sen. Carper of Delaware stopped by and Sen. Kohl introduced them to the group, Fig. 6.  Fig. 8. The team in front of the space shuttle Enterprise  Fig. 9. JFK’s Eternal Flame On our way to Iwo Jima statue we saw some of the 200,000 veterans who are entombed at Arlington, Fig. 12. After a hike we were at the Iwo Jima statue, Fig. 13., which is outside Arlington Cemetery. While we were there a veteran of Iwo Jima showed us photos of the island and told of his tour of duty, Fig. 14. |
 Fig. 7. Wisconsin Team with Senator Kohl Friday night we were bussed to Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air & Space Museum near Dulles International Airport for dinner and entertainment. We saw the Enterprise which was the prototype space shuttle, Fig. 8. We also saw the Mars Omni-Max feature. Saturday was free time to tour Washington D.C. Catching the Metro, we were off to Arlington Cemetery. First was the information center for a map, then off to JFK’s Eternal Flame, Fig. 9. We arrived at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just in time to watch the changing of the guard, Fig. 10 & 11.  Fig. 10. Changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 
Fig. 11. The team, in lime green tee shirts, watch the changing of the guard |
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 Fig. 13. Iwo Jima |
 Fig. 12. Some of the 200,000 veterans entombed at Arlington |
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 Fig. 14. Iwo Jima Veteran sharing photos of his tour of duty |
 Fig. 15. The Korean War Memorial |
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| At this point the Stankowski’s and Christian’s left us to catch the Metro to the Whitehouse. While talking to Kohl’s office I was able to get tickets for six people, but the security information had to be provided in less than 1.5 hours. Since Susan Stankowski said that they were interested in seeing the Whitehouse, I called her and gave her the contact name and number. She was able to contact Nicole Christian, Kyle’s coach. It all worked out. Normally you need reservations 6 to 8 weeks before. We are heading for Lincoln Memorial across the Memorial Bridge. Before we arrive at Lincoln Memorial, we stopped at the Korean War Memorial, Fig. 15. Up the steps to the Lincoln Memorial, Fig. 16. At the Vietnam War Memorial, a rubbing of my cousin’s name was made, Fig. 17, by a veteran from Wisconsin.  Fig. 17. Rubbing of Gerald D. Behlke’s name At the National Academy of Science the Mathletes finally found a statue that they could climb on, Fig. 18. |
 Fig. 16. Inside the Lincoln Memorial |
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 Fig. 18. Iris on Einstein’s knee |
 Fig. 19. Michael Wage with Richard Rusczyk |
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| I left Michael, Iris and Valerie, to go to the Coordinators’ Meeting. They announced that the 2007 National Competition will be in Fort Worth, TX on May 11th. I asked if additional promotional DVD’s are available or if the coordinators could make copies for coaches to use in their schools for recruiting Mathletes. They said it that the coordinators could make copies. Before the Saturday night’s Banquet, we meet Richard Rusczyk, (Fig. 19), co-author of “the ART of PROBLEM SOLVING Volume 1: the BASICS.” A must-read book for MATHCOUNTS coaches. For information visit the Art of Problem Solving website at www.artofproblemsolving.com. |
We had a great time and I wish to thank all the coaches, Mathletes and parents for their time and support of MATHCOUNTS. Sidebar
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