Nov. 28, 2018 - Fletcher Middle School's competitive math team multiplied its school's pride after winning the annual Duval County Public Schools Math Field Day Championship earlier this month.
Fletcher Middle was one of 12 schools that competed at the district-wide competition. The team had been on a three-year winning streak since 2014 until last year when they lost to Kirby Smith. They knew the pressure was on to reclaim the title of Math Field Day champion.
The school's Gifted Program mathematics teacher and team coach, Mark McGiveron, said he is proud his students for winning top prize, but is more proud of the hard work they put in to prepare for the first math-based competition of the school year. He explained that the team, which meets twice a week for practice, was eager to compete since school started.
“Last year we came in second place to a tough Kirby Smith Middle School team, so this year’s team came in super dedicated and practiced hard in hopes of reclaiming the championship," said McGiveron.
The hours of practice was worth the effort for the following team members who one first place in the following portions of the competition: Zach Andrews in geometry, Madison Aldridge and Michael Guiry in graphing and Kaci Links in the calculator portion.
Fletcher Middle's ultimate claim to Math Field Day fame is the team's perfect score of 20/20 on the Team Quiz portion of the event, where the students put their heads together to solve complex equations.
With a championship under their belt, team members say they are already preparing for the next competition, Math Counts, in February 2019. McGiveron is optimistic that this year, his students will take Fletcher Middle to the state level.