Area middle school girls compete in Woodlands Academy Mathalon

LAKE FOREST – Three students comprising Team 1 from St. Patrick School in Wadsworth took home the first-place trophy in Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart’s 12th annual Mathalon on Feb. 1.

Forty-five girls in grades 6-8 from 11 schools in Lake and Cook counties competed. They put their math skills to the test in creative, problem-solving ways in the event at the all-girls college-prep day-and-boarding high school in Lake Forest.

Finishing in second place was Palatine’s Quest Academy, followed by Lake Bluff Middle School in third place, Chicago’s Frances Xavier Warde Team 1 in fourth and Lake Forest Country Day rounding out the top five.

Other schools participating were St. Constance School from Chicago, St. Gilbert from Grayslake, East Lake Academy from Lake Forest, Most Blessed Trinity Academy from Waukegan, Sacred Heart Schools from Chicago and Barrington’s St. Anne.

Woodlands Academy created the Mathalon to get girls interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) courses.

Rocco Gargiulo, Woodlands Academy associate head of school for academics and a former math teacher at the school, said there were no rote paper and pencil drills in the competition.

“These events were hands-on cooperative activities that engaged students to use mathematics in creative, problem-solving ways,” Gargiulo said in a news release. “They involved mathematical computation, estimation, visual/spatial reasoning, logic and the use of technology.”

Fifteen teams of three middle school girls tackled fun and engaging mathematical tasks such as building, counting, drawing, estimating, folding and hypothesizing with Woodlands students serving as their guides and mentors.