Sayville Middle Schoolers Know Their Math

For the past two years 10 Sayville Middle School students have participated in the Suffolk County Middle School Math Contest held at Brookhaven National Lab.

So again, for the third annual contest, Middle School Mathlete Coach Joanne Grzymala culled competitors in preparation.

“Not only are the questions challenging, the students must work on individual problems, and then they are put together randomly with five students from other districts to work on group problems as well.”

“The Brookhaven National Lab contest was opened up to all seventh and eighth graders to try out, not just the Mathlete teams,” Grzymala explained.

To determine who would “qualify” for the competition, Grzymala gave all the seventh- and eighth-grade students “try-out problems” sheets which each student could choose to complete and return if they were interested in competing. Based on those results, 10 students were chosen to attend several afterschool practice sessions before the contest date.

The contest involves 25 schools from around the county. Sayville Middle School was represented by Matt Tomko who was among the individual scorers at the seventh grade level. He beat out 125 competitors and also upheld his winning legacy as a sixth-grader by placing first place for the second consecutive year.

“We are very proud of Matthew!” Mrs. Grzymala said. “He will get to compete again as an eighth grader next year.” In addition to Matt’s wonderful achievement, Grzymala was elated with the Mathlete club’s ongoing accomplishments throughout the year. Both teams of seventh- and eighth-grade Sayville Mathletes came in first place in their divisions.

Congratulations go to the winning combination of Middle School Mathletes  (see list below) and their coach.

7th Grade 

Mark Doucet

Andrew Cameron

Matt Tomko

Dillon Esposito-Kelley

Michael Earvolino

Francis Reilly

8th Grade

Rebecca Kranz

Emily Sneddon

Shane O’Donahue

Sean Caraher

Michael Rolland

**Matthew Tomko came in 1st place for

7th grade individual scorer (out of 125  7th graders)

Coach: Mrs. Grzymala

2011-2012 Mathletes Roster

Advisor: Mrs. Grzymala

Both the 7th and 8th grade Mathlete teams won first place in their division this year thanks to the following students…

8th  Grade

Michael Rolland

Lara Hirsh

Jillian Brudi

Shane O’Donoghue

Emily Sneddon

Sean Caraher

Christine Guinessey

7th grade

Matthew Tomko

Francis Reilly

Daniel Forsberg

Mary Elizabeth Wissemann

Mark Doucett

Brandon Buchor

Dillon Esposito-Kelley

Kaylee Basil

Jake Kolar

Dylan Nicholson