The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Students test their math skills
Sasha Zarrins a finalist in state competition
By Mike Dolsen, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: January 11, 2007
There are five minutes until testing concludes.
Advertisement
Alright, pencils down.
Saline High School senior Sasha Zarrins frantically answers the last question in the remaining seconds before she utters a sigh of relief.
She's just finished 40 multiple-choice problems that will eventually qualify her to be a finalist in the Michigan Mathematics Prize Competition.
"I have participated in the MMPC every year since I was a freshman and did well on Part I last year," Zarrins said. "I hoped to do well again and to get another chance on Part II."
Zarrins joined Sarah Abdallah, Andrew Beck, Ian Beil, Andrew Brandon-Rumman, Nathaniel Burns, Jameson Arnett, Andrew DeVries, Debra Franklin, Diana Goulding, Angela Johnshton, Sandra Klocinski, Yimin Luo, Sarah Menchak, Andrew Park, Russell Simon, Matthew Villa and Zachary Zarins Dec. 6 as a competitor in the 15th annual Mathematics Prize Competition.
Burns describes the contest as an opportunity for high school students from across the state to use their knowledge of mathematics to earn scholarships.
Most of the Saline students are enrolled in teacher Jere Hassberger's Advanced Placement calculus class, which has helped students them in the competition.
"I have probably been helped most by 'Doc' Hassberger just because his class both taught me new material and helped me to remember things that I had learned in previous math classes, more so than any other class that I've taken at Saline has," he said.
In addition to their math interests, competitors are enticed by the scholarships that they can earn when they place well.
"I decided to participate in it to see how well I could compete against thousands of other students across Michigan," Simon said. "I also wanted to see if I could possibly earn a scholarship."
For some students, the test is just another opportunity to exercise their mathematical knowledge. Zarrins, for example, sees it as a refreshing change from the everyday math problems she has to solve in class.
Burns said he likes the camaraderie aspect of competing with like-minded students.
"I don't think of (the other students) as competitors, but as fellow students," he said. "All of us who compete share the same passion for math, so I feel a sort of camaraderie toward everyone else in the program."
While the future may not hold jobs particularly linked to mathematics for these Saline students, they say that's OK because they have other interests, as well.
"In college, I plan to major in music composition," said Burns, who finished the math competition 65th overall in 2005. "After attending graduate school, I hope to begin work as a film composer.
"Though math is not a large part of my future, I still plan to take more math classes in college. Whatever I do in the future, I'll still have a love for math and logic. "
Mike Dolsen is a student at Saline High School. He can be reached at .
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
