Sandy Springs public school students must really enjoy math, as 60 pupils in grades 4, 5 and 6 volunteered to spend a Saturday competing in the High Point Elementary School’s Second Annual Hound Bowl Math Tournament. The event, sponsored by Sandy Springs Education Force (SSEF), was free for all participating students.

The program was sanctioned by Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools (MOEMS) and organized by Tournament Chair and High Point Elementary School teacher, Kerstin Long. Participating students solved 20 to 25 clever, engaging, and challenging problems on a variety of mathematical topics. They competed face-to-face for 4½ hours on five-member teams. The Hound Bowl was one of only three MOEMS tournaments held in Georgia schools this year.

SSEF Executive Director, Irene Schweiger, noted, “Sandy Springs Education Force was excited to see this event grow this year to include 6th graders. It’s wonderful to see so many students and their teachers come out on a Saturday to participate in a math competition. This is a real celebration of what SSEF is all about: giving our Sandy Springs public school students opportunities use their problem-solving skills to demonstrate how they are preparing to use these skills in the real world.”

This year, participating schools included: Dunwoody Springs, High Point, Ison Springs, Spalding Drive and Woodland Elementary, as well as Ridgeview Middle School. Not simply a test of computation skills, the tournament questions were clever, engaging and challenging to assess problem-solving skills beyond basic math knowledge. Students showed team spirit via matching t-shirts and enthusiastically participated in both group and individual competitions. In addition, Mathnasium provided event t-shirts for all competitors.

Tournament Chair, Kerstin Long, commented, “We are thrilled to host the Hound Bowl Math Tournament at High Point. The Tournament is focused on building a community of Sandy Springs students and teachers who are eager to take on mathematical challenges and stretch their problem-solving capabilities. It’s exciting to watch the teams in action during the Tournament and know they have worked hard all year to hone their math talents. The students this year were tough competitors! We appreciate Sandy Springs Education Force and Mathnasium of Sandy Springs for supporting our event and helping make it possible.”

Official Results

Individual Award Winners

Grade 4
First Place – Charles Hendry High Point ES Team 4A
Second Place – Gison Xu Spalding Drive ES Team 4A
Third Place – Diya Praveen Woodland ES Team 4A

Grade 5
First Place – Vrishabh Doshi Spalding Drive ES Team 5A
Second Place – Arnav Herdwadkar Woodland ES Team 5A
Third Place – Brayden Allgood High Point ES Team 5A

Grade 6
First Place – William Tompkins Ridgeview MS Team 6B
Second Place – John Gomez Ridgeview MS Team 6B
Third Place – Kevin Nunez Ridgeview MS Team 6B

Team Award Winners

Grade 4

First Place High Point ES Team 4A
Mason Below
Charles Hendry
Ellie Lesser
Lauren Scales
Quentin Stout

Second Place Spalding Drive ES Team 4A
Henok Asrat
Shahraiz Bhatti
Samaya Sahijram-Dansingani
Tennyson Crockett Brown
Gison Xu

Third Place Woodland ES Team 4A
Dushyanth Gowda
Susan Kambam
Tamoghna Naladala
Diya Praveen

Grade 5

First Place High Point ES Team 5A
Brayden Allgood
Ian Boemanns
Luke Johnson
Laila Patel
Padgett Wilson

Second Place Spalding Drive ES Team 5A
Beck Ballowe
Vrishabh Doshi
Cat Johnson
Paula Ortiz Garcia
Jian Zeng

Third Place High Point ES Team 5B
Laura Avalos
Joel Lopez-Ayala
Hannah Mabry
Vivienne Seidel
Wil Alvarez Tacuba

Grade 6

First Place Ridgeview MS Team 6B
John Gomez
Kevin Nunez
William Tompkins
Emilio Yanes

Second Place Ridgeview MS Team 6A
Morgan Echols
Ava Grace Mabry
Maya Olidge
Douglas Sopher
Holden Wright-Gardner