Dozens of intermediate school students gathered at Musselman High School on Tuesday morning to participate in Math Field Day, a competition designed to enhance their math skills. The event will continue later this week with middle school students and next week with high schoolers from Berkeley County.
Anne Laskey, mathematics instruction specialist at Berkeley County Schools, emphasized the importance of the event in changing perceptions about math. “Math has a bad rap,” she said. “People have negative connotations, and so this is a way to celebrate math and show that there’s some cool stuff we can do with it.” She affectionately refers to the participants as "math-letes."
The competition included a 40-question exam, timed mental math problems, and physical math challenges where students measured objects using minimal tools. This year’s theme was pirate-related, with tasks such as measuring flags or estimating coins in a jar.
Berkeley County has participated in Math Field Day for over 30 years. Laskey has been involved since joining the county's central office 12 years ago and enjoys interacting with the students during these events. “Some of the kids at the high school level have been coming since fourth grade,” she noted.
Student selection for the event varies by school. At Orchard View Intermediate, 21 students were chosen based on test scores and practiced weekly under coaches like Megan Burns. “We try to come up with some scenarios that might be similar to what they’re going to experience and run them through a simulation,” Burns explained.
At the end of each competition day, the top ten students are recognized, and Laskey takes the top three to compete regionally on March 10 at Shepherd University. Success at regionals could lead them to state-level competitions. “We always do well at regionals,” Laskey said confidently.
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