By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

OVER 100 students from the sixth to 12th grades competed in the Public School System’s Math Court competition at Tanapag Elementary School on Saturday.
The students, who came from eight public and six private schools, competed in various contest categories which aim to test their mathematical abilities through on-the-spot questions that have to be answered in a given period of time.
Lizabeth Hofschneider, overall coordinator of the event and a teacher at Kagman High School, said the event’s objective was to prepare students for the upcoming regional Math Court in April.
“This is the fourth Math Court competition this year and all category winners are qualified to join the regional competition,” she told Variety.
During the contest, each participant was given a mathematical question that he had to answer within 30 seconds.
“The elimination is like sudden death,” Hofschneider said. “You will be out if you fail to get the answer — (you cannot use a) calculator, scratch paper or a pen.”
For high school students, there were three categories —algebra, geometry and advanced math.
Junior high school students and sixth graders answered questions based on PSS benchmarks and standards 3, 4 and 5.
On Saturday, five winners were chosen for each grade level and five students were named the best in algebra, geometry, and advanced math.
Winners for the sixth grade were Young Eun Lee, Ji Young Yang and Jimin Ryo, all from Saipan Community School; Ray Mark Denora, 4th, San Antonio Elementary; and Ji Yong Park, 5th, SCS.
For the 7th grade, Edu Manaag of Hopwood Junior High finished first; Joy Aira, 2nd, HJHS; Andrew Huertas, 3rd, HJHS; Minchong Kang, 4th, HJHS; and Elloise Lotoc, 5th, Chacha Oceanview Jr. High School.
Winners for eighth grade were Jan Kimberly Alcantara, 1st, HJHS; Miri Kim, 2nd, SCS; Ardel Tumbaga, 3rd, SCS; Joseph Martin, 4th, SCS; and So Jung Song, 5th, SCS.
Students who were named the best in geometryy were Terrence Duenas, Kagman High School; Loremel Aguelo, KagHS; Fang Xiangyu, Marianas High School; Joyce Jurado, MHS; and Kihea Jeon, Saipan Southern High School.
The best in Algebra, group 1: Jhumil Esposo, MHS; Li Xian, MHS; Laura Lee, Marianas Baptist Academy; Kenlyn Butters, KagHS; and Kenneth Kaneshi, KagHS.
For group 2: Terrence Duenas, KagHS; Fang Xiangyu, MHS; Kihea Jeon, SSHS; Joyce Jurado, MHS; and Yesol Jun, Eucon International School.
Hofschneider said in the regional competition, only the gold medalists in each category will get the chance to go to the U.S. for the national math court competition.
“PSS started this Math Court competition only last year for the elementary schools, and our junior and high schools only participated starting this year — the contest is patterned after the one in Texas from which we also got the rules for the contest,” she said.
The competition was organized by PSS high school math teachers with federal assistance through the National Forensic League.
The other participating schools were Ladera International School, Eucon International, Saipan International School, Mount Carmel School, Saipan Community School, Tanapag Elementary and San Antonio Elementary.