Penn Hills Elementary students participate in CalcuSolve competition

Eight Penn Hills Elementary students showed off their math skills when they attended the CalcuSolve competition at Duquesne University on Feb. 3. The event was sponsored by Allegheny Intermediate Unit, and the students competed on an individual and team basis to solve complex math word problems.

The event was attended by more than 30 schools and hundreds of students, with the group primarily composed of gifted and higher-achieving pupils. Representing Penn Hills were Victoria Senge, Daniel Bunce, James Wissman, Thomas Quirk, Mikael Epperson, Drew Tomashewski and Ireland Bost.

The students would answer two team questions and seven individual questions, with winners calculated both for the individuals and for the entire team. Students were presented with a certificate and a string bag following the competition.

Bunce, who is a sixth grader, received a perfect score and took first place in the seventh grade age group bracket, which featured 66 teams and 212 total students. He was one of 21 students from his group that achieved a perfect score. All the winners with a perfect score were acknowledged, whereas in years past, the competition would run a tie breaker.

Tomasheswki also took home a first place recognition, as he was one of 14 students who placed first in his bracket, competing among 86 teams and 344 total students.

The students were chaperoned and coached by K-8 gifted coordinator Tracey Johnson, who has been taking her students to the competition each of the last 13 years.

“Because there is an individual and team component to the CalcuSolve Competition, the students benefit in different ways,” Johnson said. “The academic competition helps improve the students’ ability to collaborate and work as a team. As individuals, the competition helps build self-confidence, determination, and at times resilience. The students know that the competition is challenging, but I love seeing them celebrate their own individual success no matter how many points they scored at the event.”