Glennallen Mathletes Place Third in State

Photo caption: MathCounts students take a break to make a pyramid. Top: Wyatt McGinnis; Middle: Maggie Spencer, Markus Abbott; Bottom: River Bengtson, Kadyen Wattengel, Eduel Spencer. Photo by Sarah Abbott.

By Anna Somers

Last March, Glennallen-based middle-school students placed third in the Alaska state MathCounts competition, and two local students were recognized as the rural chapter champion and runner up.

“This was the best we’ve ever done,” coach Sarah Abbott stated, mentioning the surprise she saw on the other coaches’ faces when Glennallen’s win was announced. 

“Rural chapters are usually much weaker,” she noted, and the schools who place in the state tournament are almost always from larger cities.

Even the students themselves were surprised. “I’m kind of shocked we did this good this year,” Kayden Wattengel said.

“We felt like we were doing really well as a team,” Wyatt McGinnis explained, “but not compared to other people.”

The only person who didn’t seem shocked about their third-place win was Coach Abbott herself, who has helped prepare the middle-school team for the state tournament since Thanksgiving.

The MathCounts competition is an annual event with tournaments at the school, chapter, state, and national level. These competitions are open to US students in sixth through eighth grade. 

According to their website MathCounts “provides engaging math programs to US middle school students of all ability levels.” Coach Abbott was introduced to MathCounts by her sister, a teacher in Pennsylvania.

Abbott holds weekly MathCounts practices that are open to any middle school student. Between Upstream and Glennallen Middle School, she estimates about twenty students chose to participate this year, with six going on to compete at the state championships.

“At the middle-school level,” she said, “it’s all about relationships.” If kids have friends who are enjoying MathCounts, they will want to get involved too.

When she holds practice, Abbott tries to include fun math-based activities in addition to the more rigorous exercises that will prepare students for the competitions. Her goal is to give middle schoolers a positive experience with math.

Her aim echoes that of the MathCounts mission, as on their website they state that “middle school is a critical juncture when a love of math must be encouraged, and a fear of math must be overcome.”

This is Abbott’s sixth year as a Mathcounts coach in the Glennallen area. Her daughter, 11th grader Kayla Abbott (who was named the rural chapter champion in Alaska for two years) was the team’s assistant coach.

The Alaska state competition was held on the UAA campus March 21 and 22. The MathCounts competition includes both team and individual events. 

Team captain Maggie Spencer, along with Eduel Spencer, Kayden Wattengel, and Wyatt McGinnis, formed the four-person team that placed third in the entire state.

For the individual competition, Eduel Spencer was named the rural chapter champion, and Kadyen Wattengel was the runner up. River Bengtson and Markus Abbott also competed at the individual level.

Thankfully, the MathCounts weekend wasn’t all hard work and word problems, as the students got to enjoy an evening at the Dave & Buster’s arcade and enjoy a meal at the Golden Corral.

When asked about their experience with MathCounts, the mathletes recommend it  even for students who don’t think they’re good at math. 

“It’s super fun,” Kayden said, “and anybody who wants to try should.”