North Springs Piano students will perform at Cooper Music on Sunday to raise money for a new grand piano. If you want to donate, please click here.
COMAP, the Consortium for Mathematics and its Application, recently announced the results of its 14th Annual International High School Mathematical Modeling Contest and North Springs Charter High School, the ONLY Georgia participant in this world-wide competition, had a record-setting 13 teams receive top honors.
Of the 435 teams competing, 266 were from high schools in the United States and 169 were from foreign countries; with 64% from China, followed by Hong Kong, Korea, and Finland. Of these, North Springs had one Regional Outstanding team, awarded to only 12% of teams, and ten teams earn Meritorious, the most awards in this category, of ANY high school in the competition!
According to Math Department chair and AP Calculus teacher, Scott Hetherington, “it’s a tremendous accomplishment, especially when you see the caliber of the competition. It’s the third time we’ve had a team receive Regional Outstanding and the first time to have 10 teams receive Meritorious.”
The contest challenges students to discover "unique and creative mathematical solutions to complex, open-ended, real-world problems"; working in teams of four over a 36 hour period. At North Springs a student must take AP Calculus to compete, but success in the competition does not depend entirely on the math. “A lot of students think it’s all about the math and obviously math modeling is a big part of it, but it’s really more about creative problem solving and being able to write a clear, concise summary of how the team approached the problem and how they sought to solve it,” said Hetherington.
The Regional Outstanding team of seniors April Blad, Annabelle Broyles, Court Granish, and Leighton Rowell used their individual strengths to collaborate on their solution. “It was definitely a team effort,” said Rowell, who plans to major in journalism. “April, who’s interested in premed, and Court, in engineering, did the majority of the math; Annabelle, who intends to major in art history, did the graphing, and I wrote the summary.”
“Our problem was to find a lost class ring and a jogger lost on a 5 mile run, in a park at night, using a pin light, and within two hours,” explained Broyles. “It was my first time competing in COMAP; I was surprised and pleased we got Regional Outstanding, considering that most of the majority of the Regional Outstanding teams were from China and Hong Kong.”
According to the contest results summary, “the abilities to recognize problems, formulate a mathematical model, use technology, and communicate and reflect on one's work are keys to success. Applying mathematics is a team sport!”. Congratulations to the North Springs COMAP teams.
February 15, 2012 - Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos delivered a proclamation to student members of North Springs Charter High School’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) organization, announcing the week of February 13-17, 2012, as FBLA Week in Sandy Springs.
FBLA members then escorted the mayor through the Career, Technology and College Fair, taking place in the school’s gymnasium and organized by North Springs’ Career Technology Education (CTE) Department with help from FBLA, one of several national student organizations within the CTE department.
At North Springs, 111 students participate in FBLA. Nationally, Future Business Leaders of America has over a quarter million members preparing for careers in business and business-related fields. In Georgia, over 27,000 high school members make FBLA the largest student organization in the state.
Every March, FBLA students compete at the State Leadership Conference testing their business knowledge and skills in many different events. Fourteen North Springs' students will be competing for a chance to represent NSCHS at nationals being held in Texas this summer.
According to FBLA advisers Chris English and Dale Simpson, “North Springs has been proud to have had national FBLA competitors in the past and this year we fully expect several of our students to do very well at the state level and go on to nationals.”
“We’re also proud and appreciative of the Mayor and the City of Sandy Springs for recognizing the importance of FBLA and honoring this student organization with a week of its own, “added English.
The FBLA concept was developed in 1937 by Dr. Hamden L. Forkner of Columbia University; the first high school chapter was chartered in Johnson City, Tennessee on February 3, 1942.
The Second Poetry Slam, hosted by the Gay/Straight Alliance Club, was held last night in the Media Center. Glenda Monge, Jaime Acosta, Hannah Nicole Goldstein, and Olivia Harris outdid themselves in decorating the tables, setting up the food, and cleaning up. Mary Damiano filmed the performances. Paiten Kelly, Raytavia Harris, Anthony Johnson, Jada Crocker, Lauren Dean, and Tyler Edwards read their original poetry; Keana Martin-Sanders, D’Albrey Allison, and Tyler Edwards performed poetry written by others. Thainara Carvalho sang an Etta James song as a tribute to the recently deceased songstress. Joshua Hart and Mike Hunt performed two rap songs! The audience, composed of family members and students, enjoyed the evening enormously as evidenced by the enthusiastic finger snapping!
North Springs once again was honored by the College Board for its success in the Advanced Placement (AP) Program. North Springs was honored as an AP Merit, STEM, STEM Achievment, and Access/Support school.
Read the Press Release here.
