CAMDEN — Four members of the Camden Rockport Middle School math team placed first, third, fifth, and 11th out of 50 participants during a MathCounts competition last month.

As a result of their high placements, the four boys, in grades six through eight, are now headed to the state-level competition at Kennebec Valley Technical College in Fairfield, Saturday, March 5, to further test their mathematical prowess against other worthy opponents.

Three years after the creation of a math group at CRMS, the school name, and the names of these individuals, are finding an outlet within the realm of ratios, planes, summations, and derivatives.

All of these students are taking math classes more advanced than their grade-level peers:

Sixth-grader Thor Gabrielsen, winner of the competition, studies pre-calculus at school and in his Rockport home. 

Seventh-grader Bryler Fisher of Rockport, 11th place, studies Algebra I.

Seventh-grader Jonathan McDevitt of Camden, fifth place, studies geometry.

And eighth-grader Jay Hokkenan of Rockport, third place, studies Algebra II. 

Fifth graders are not invited to compete, although students attending CRMS are welcome to the school’s practice sessions. This is how Jonathan became involved with the group.

Camden Rockport Middle School math team members sport T-shirts that read: “Come to the nerd side. We have pi.”

“I think I have the gamut,” said math teacher and team leader Tammy Hilchey, coordinator of team practices, sometimes-chauffeur, and most importantly, supplier of snacks to the team.  

“Like the Dum Dums you brought one time,” Thor said. “That was nice, that round. And we did do better the second round.”

The happy bellies and camaraderie seem to have an effect on the CRMS mathletes since they also participate in a second math league far different from MathCounts.

The other competition held recently, which they won January 23, was at Hall-Dale High School. But MathCounts is more difficult, according to Hilchey.