St Anne’s High School triumphs at Math Competition
The finals of the second annual Western Kingston Inter-school Grade Nine Mathematics Competition got under way last Thursday afternoon at the Tivoli High School auditorium. Eight schools from the West Kingston area entered the competition: Charlie Smith High, Kingston High, Tivoli High, Denham Town High, St Anne’s High, Trench Town High, Haile Selassie High and St Andrew Technical.
The competition is geared to enhance mathematically-inclined students, as well as to help those who are often under the misconception that mathematics is too hard to handle.
The schools were divided into two groups A, and B, with St Anne’s topping group A and St Andrew Technical topping group B. However, the runners-up for group A, Tivoli High, went up against the runners-up for group B, Denham Town High, in a third-place play-off battle in the first game of the day. After section two of the first game, the scores between the two schools were locked at nine. At the end of the game, last year’s winners of the competition, Tivoli High outscored, Denham Town 19-10 to take the third-place spot.
The final game was a bit different as there seemed to have been no doubt in the minds of the supporters who would be victorious. From the very beginning, St Anne’s led the way, giving their supporters much to rave about. It was as if everybody in the audience was a score-keeper. Before quizmaster Donna Powell-Wilson revealed the final scores, the St Anne’s supporters had already rushed to congratulate their team, in what was an emphatic victory over St Andrew Technical, to a score of 32-19. St Anne’s was then awarded the major prize — the Prime Minister’s trophy, as well as other individual prizes.
Head of the Mathematics department for Tivoli High School, Jennifer Mattis, thanked all those who were involved in making the competition a success. These included the Office of the Prime Minister, Shortwood Teacher’s College (which provided the quizmasters and the questions), MegaMart, Wynlee Distributors, Niche Finance and Kingston Bookshop. The competition ended on a high for everyone as a number of the students received prizes and they were all promised a trip to Dunn’s River Falls in St Ann, which they were extremely elated about.
