March 9, 2003
Boulder Daily Camera
by Amy Hebert
Months of practice added up to a huge success Saturday for a group of Boulder students who know their math.
A team of Summit Middle School students took first place in the state MathCounts competition Saturday, and one will go on to represent Colorado in the national competition in Chicago.
Seventh-graders Marshall Carpenter, Thomas Davids and Charlie Wilcox, and sixth-grader Ben Kuelthau had the highest team score in Saturday's contest, held at the University of Denver. Marshall took first place in the individual competition.
The first-place team doesn't advance to the May 9 nationals, but their coach — Summit pre-algebra teacher Greta Frohbieter — won the right to head the state's team, comprised of the top four individual winners, Frohbieter said.
She said she was proud and pleasantly surprised that her young team, all newcomers to the math competition, fared better than many more-experienced eighth-graders.
"I thought we'd do well, but it never occurred to me that we'd take first place," she said.
Marshall took his individual victory in stride.
"I expected to get pretty close at least," he said.
The 13-year-old, who intends to be an engineer or programmer, won a scholarship to either DU or the Colorado School of Mines.
"It felt great to like get a scholarship and first place and go on to nationals," he said.
The math problems are presented in four rounds and vary from geometry to probability to algebra, Frohbieter said.
She said it's refreshing to see students who excel in these areas get the recognition they deserve.
"This is a chance for the kids who really are good at math to have their moment of glory," she said.