School district hosts math championship

The Blaine school district recently hosted the 38th annual Whatcom County Middle School Math Championship, in which 106 teams and over 400 students tackled mathematical challenges involving mental arithmetic, geometry, algebra and probability.

The program got underway at 9:30 a.m. on February 29 with an opening address by Blaine Middle School principal Darren Benson. Competitors then faced off, with mathletes in grades four through eight participating in one individual and five team events.

A closing ceremony later took place at 2 p.m. in the gymnasium, where U.S. congresswoman Suzan DelBene, state representative Luanne Van Werven and Whatcom County executive Satpal Sidhu joined officials from the Blaine school district in presenting the winning teams and individuals with awards.

For the individual event, the Blaine students who earned awards were Oscar Bogle, who won third place in the 4th grade contest, and Wade Lottimer, who won first place in the 6th grade contest.

For the team events, Blaine Elementary School’s 4th grade team #2 won sixth place, Blaine Elementary School’s 5th grade team #3 won eighth place, Blaine Middle School’s 6th grade team #2 won second place, Blaine Middle School’s 6th grade team #1 won tenth place and Blaine Middle School’s 7th grade team #1 won second place.

Phillips 66 Ferndale Refinery has sponsored the Whatcom County Middle School Math Championship since its inception in 1983. Phillips 66 provided $20,000 in funding to underwrite the costs of this year’s competition. The company had over 30 refinery employees, contractors and family members volunteer to proctor students, grade tests and provide data entry support to school staff.