Broadmeadow Students Among Winners in The International Math Competition

Needham, MA – June 7, 2011 – Two fourth graders from Broadmeadow Elementary School achieve high scores and receive prestigious awards during Math Kangaroo 2011.

Last November, on behalf of the Math Enrichment Committee at Broadmeadow Elementary School in Needham, Kathleen Phelps approached Alex Seriy, the founder of Top Banana Education Foundation, to help implement a math enrichment program for Broadmeadow kids. Under the leadership of Amy Goldman, the EASE Program Director at the Needham Public Schools, the idea to train 4th and 5th graders for the upcoming Math Kangaroo competition quickly took shape.

For two and a half months following the winter holidays, twelve students met at the school library twice a week in the morning before regular classes to learn and practice solving extra-challenging problems from the past competitions under Alex Seriy’s guidance. The students demonstrated a high level of discipline, diligence and dedication during the preparation sessions. The competition took place on March 17th at the Top Banana’s facility in Newton. The contestants were presented with the set of 24 multiple choice problems and had an hour and 15 minutes to solve them. All students gave it their best and scored impressively across the board. As the final results came in May, two 4th graders have received a special recognition. Ivanna Lai won the 4th place nationwide and the 3rd place in Massachusetts. Benjamin Shapiro was awarded the 12th place nationally.

Based on this year’s successful pilot, EASE and Top Banana are planning to offer this competitive math enrichment program at multiple public schools in Needham in 2011-2012.

Top Banana Education Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping children develop a life-long love of mathematics and to providing educators with powerful new tools to help students unleash their academic potential and achieve to the best of their abilities. Top Banana teaches math to young children by aligning the instructions in mathematics with the knowledge of how human memory works. Instead of memorizing facts, the emphasis is placed on the logic behind the mathematical operations. Capitalizing on the young children’s curiosity and enthusiasm, the program turns studying numbers into playing with numbers, and produces superior results.

Broadmeadow Students Among Winners in The International Math Competition (page 2)

Elementary After School Enrichment (EASE) program is operated by the Needham Community Education Department of the Needham Public Schools and offers an exciting selection of after-school arts, sports, hobbies, science discovery and other programs at each elementary school. These fun and engaging classes, taught by Needham Public Schools staff, parents, community members and other qualified professionals, enable students to extend their learning beyond the classroom.

Math Kangaroo is an international schoolchildren competition in mathematics. The competition originally started out in Australia in the 1980's. In 1991, it came to France where it was dubbed "Math Kangaroo" for the place of its origin. It was brought to the United States 1998. Last year, there were test centers in 46 countries around the world and in 27 US states with close to 6,000,000 participants worldwide and 6,500 in the US. The competition takes place annually on a third Thursday of March. The contestants are offered 24 questions in grades 1 through 4 and 30 questions in grades 5 and above. The test session is 75 minutes long. Students must be able to work independently. Each contestant receives a T-shirt and a certificate of participation on the test day. The results are announced in May.

Contact: Alex Seriy Top Banana Education Foundation (888) 411-KIDS (5437) Fax (617) 202-9652 aseriy@topbananaeducation.org http://www.topbananaeducation.org Amy Goldman EASE Program Director, Needham Public Schools (781) 455-0400 ext. 214 Amy_Goldman@needham.k12.ma.us http://rwd1.needham.k12.ma.us/community_education/EASE

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