St. Mary’s Students Excel in Algebra Competition

The 61st annual statewide High School Mathematics Contest was held on April 11, 2017, at Roane State Community College in Harriman.  It was sponsored by the Tennessee Mathematics Teachers’ Association.
Four students from St. Mary’s School took the Algebra I test.  Anna Kasemir placed 1st, Sydney Mesmer placed 5th, Sarah Tackett placed 7th,  and Marissa Dalton placed 8th.

Left to Right: Anna Kasemir, Sydney Mesmer, Mrs. Marsha Sega (middle school math teacher), Sarah Tackett and Marissa Dalton

Left to Right: Anna Kasemir, Sydney Mesmer, Mrs. Marsha Sega (middle school math teacher), Sarah Tackett and Marissa Dalton

According to the Tennessee Mathematics Teachers Association, prior to 1957, several independent contests in high school mathematics were held in various localities in Tennessee.  TMTA effected a merger of these contests in 1957 and began to sponsor a contest open to all public, private, and parochial high schools in Tennessee.  This association is happy to conduct a statewide contest each year as one of its major projects.
The major purposes of the contest are (1) to stimulate interest in mathematics by encouraging more students to include mathematics in their programs of study and, thereby, to raise the level of mathematics competence in Tennessee; and (2) to honor those students who are outstanding in their knowledge of mathematics through appropriate public recognition in their schools and their communities.
The contest is conducted as an academic festival where students represent their school in competition with others at a nearby Testing Center.  These specially selected school representatives compete with others for preeminence in their region and in the state.