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MathCounts team (L to R): Wesley Hause, Tristan Behrends, Dugan Kluis, and Alex Schuur.
On Friday, March 11th, MCC MathCounts coach Mark Carlson, chaperone Katie Gillette, and the MathCounts team of Tristan Behrends, Wesley Hause, Dugan Kluis, and Alex Schuur ventured to the Crown Plaza hotel in Plymouth, MN to attend the State Competition. The team had qualified for this competition in early February by placing 2nd out of 9 teams at the local competition in Marshall, MN.
The State competition included STEM activities on Friday evening and a wonderful pasta supper. On Saturday morning the team fueled up with a great breakfast before competing in 3 rounds of MathCounts questions. The Sprint Round and Target Round were tackled individually, and then a Team Round completed the day.
“We found out the competition at the State level was super challenging”, commented MCC MathCounts coach Mark Carlson. “I was hoping that we might be able to finish in the top half of the teams, but we did not achieve that goal. Nevertheless, it was a great experience, and our students represented MCC very well. I am proud of their effort and the way they conducted themselves”, continued Carlson.
Carlson has coached the MathCounts team at MCC since 2006 and this was only the 2nd MCC team to advance to the State Competition. Two MCC students (Dawson Blankenship and Jack Pierson) had competed as individuals in previous years.
MathCounts is sponsored by the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers and is open to students in grades 6 - 8. This year MCC’s team was made up entirely of 7th grade students so they have another year of eligibility remaining.
