USVI: Put down the ball and pick up a book, man!

Hey, here are the results of the MathCounts championship going on in the USVI. The champs are the kids in the back row. Success and victory are the true sources of self-esteem.


Woodson Junior High team champions are, back row from left, Terrence Cummings, 13;
Terrence Nelson Jr., 13; Stella Jarvis, 13; and Victor Browne Jr., 13.
The Countdown Round winners are, front row from left

Mathletes from John H. Woodson Junior High School won top team honors at this year's MathCounts competition on Thursday.

Woodson placed first in the team competition, followed by Country Day, Good Hope and Elena Christian Junior High School.

Here's some of what the kids had to do to win:

The second individual round, the Target Round, consisted of eight multiple-step problems, given to competitors in four pairs, that require mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills. Contestants had six minutes to solve each pair of problems, and calculators were permitted.

Students' scores from the first two individual rounds determine the top-scoring individuals, who then go head-to-head in the fast-paced Countdown Round.

Victor Browne Jr., a 13-year-old eighth-grader who already had won a trophy as a member Woodson's team, walked away with the Top Individual winner trophy for having the best score from the first two individual rounds.

"With God's help, anything is possible," he said after the competition.

In the Countdown Round, math problems were placed on a projector and pairs of "mathletes" had 45 seconds to come up with the correct answer without using a calculator. The last four standing after the round win a berth in the territorial competition.

In the end, 12-year-old Alison Mahoney, a seventh-grader from Country Day, beat out several schoolmates to finish first in the Countdown Round.

"Wow," Mahoney said. "I didn't know I was going to win; it was amazing. I was really nervous, but I'm happy."

The four-student Woodson team that will go on to compete in the territorial competition comprises Browne, Stella Jarvis, Terrence Nelson Jr. and Terrence Cummings. Also moving on to the territorial finals are Countdown Round winners Mahoney, Conrad Whyte, Kai Schuster and Stephanie Scribner.