Charlie Breitrose
Lowell School in Watertown.
Members of the Lowell School’s Math League Team tested their skills and came out top in the nationwide competition.
The Watertown elementary school has fourth- and fifth-graders who take part in the Continental Math League. Both grade levels enjoyed success this year, said Lowell teacher and Math League advisor Debra Garabedian, but the fifth graders rose to rarified air.
“For the fifth grade, we are the top nationally, and the fourth grade won regionally, in New England,” Garabedian said. “Both grades levels won something this year, so that is a milestone we should be proud of.”
Lowell competed against nearly 300 schools from around the nation and a few overseas. There are public, private and parochial schools in the competition. Looking at the list of schools, Garabedian said there are some in India, China and the United Kingdom.
The questions for the Math League meets are not straight forward, Garabedian said. They require abstract thinking. The students on the Math Team are students who can use an extra challenge in math, and can figure out the problems.
The Continental Math League program is supported by the Lowell School PTO, and has been run at the school for at least 17 years, Garabedian said.
This year there are 27 fifth-graders and 14 fourth-graders on the Math Team. All of them took the six-question test in 20 minutes and five students had perfect scores, Garabedian said.
“I won’t say we never won nationally, but its been a long time,” she said.