Elementary school students across the Socorro Independent School District competed for the title of District Math Bee Champion for their grade level at the SISD 7th Annual District Math Bee on March 23 at Eastlake High School.
Round after round, students from kindergarten to fifth grade had three seconds to mentally solve problems using number sense strategies and provide the correct answer.
The student with the highest number of correct answers from each grade level was declared the winner.
After a nail-biting tiebreaker round, Jorge Ramirez from Benito Martinez Elementary won first place in the fourth-grade contest against Edgardo Fuentes-Prieto from Sgt. Roberto Ituarte Elementary and Autumn Eidler from Col. Ben Narbuth Elementary.
“It feels good,” said Ramirez, who hugged his mom after the competition and thanked her for helping him practice. “I like math because I’m good at it, and it’s pretty fun.”
Eidler said she was “super-duper proud” of herself for winning third place.
“Math is my favorite subject mainly because I just love it so much!” Eidler said.
Fabiola Jordan, instructional officer for elementary math, said the Math Bee promoted a sense of fluency, mental math and number sense. The competition also created a positive environment for students.
“They're super nervous and excited when they come in,” Jordan said. “They've been practicing hard. Their parents have been practicing with them, but they have such good sportsmanship. They clap for each other at all times, and it's just a very positive environment for them.”
Parents, including Christina Navarro, watched the competition live-streamed from the high school’s cafeteria while the students competed in the library.
Christina Navarro enjoyed watching her son Lucas Navarro, a fifth grader at Helen Ball Elementary School, and other competitors solve math problems quickly in their heads.
"I love that (SISD has) something like this for him because math is his thing," Christina Navarro said. "We were just talking about how it's very different and so nice to watch them exercise their brain in that way and challenge themselves and see what other kids can do in other schools, too."
Even though it was nerve-racking, Lucas Navarro said he enjoyed the speed of the competition.
“Honestly, I just found Math Bee really interesting,” Lucas Navarro said. “Like answering a question in a short amount of time, that's the kind of math that I like.”
Montserrat Ornelas, a kindergartener at Mission Ridge Elementary, said she was happy because she almost won third place in her grade level, but she ran out of time before she could answer the problem. Ornelas said she enjoyed practicing for the competition with her teacher. She also liked the certificate she received for participating in Math Bee.
“It was fun because it made us learn,” Ornelas said.
SISD 7th Annual District Math Bee Winners
Kindergarten
First Place – Duke Perez, O’Shea Keleher Whole Child Academy
Second Place – Marco Torres, Campestre Elementary
Third Place – Joseph Nico, Sierra Vista STEAM Academy
First Grade
First Place – Carlos Muñoz, Loma Verde Elementary
Second Place – Mateo Rey, Dr. Sue Shook Elementary
Third Place – Ivan Fierro, Desert Wind School
Second Grade
First Place – Santiago Lopez, Mission Ridge Elementary
Second Place – Hudson English, Paso Del Norte Fine Arts Academy
Third Place – Jayden Ornelas, Lujan-Chavez Elementary
Third Grade
First Place – Fernando Gonzalez, Mission Ridge Elementary
Second Place – Jose Luis Valles, John Drugan School
Third Place – Killian Donnelly, Horizon Heights Elementary
Fourth Grade
First Place – Jorge Ramirez, Benito Martinez Elementary
Second Place – Edgardo Fuentes-Prieto, Sgt. Roberto Ituarte Elementary
Third Place – Autumn Eidler, Col. Ben Narbuth Elementary
Fifth Grade
First Place – Gadiel Chacon, Col. Ben Narbuth Elementary
Second Place – Peyton Gutierrez, Horizon Heights Elementary
Third Place – Francisco Cordero, Escontrias STEAM Academy