By Mario Montalvo/ne news editor
Students can compete for thousands of dollars in scholarships and cash prizes in this fall’s Jim Bolen Math Competition.
The semi-annual districtwide competition, started by the late Jim Bolen, former NE math faculty member and department chair, is now in its 23rd year, said SE math professor David Price.
It provides scholarships to local universities like the University of Texas at Arlington, Baylor, Texas Christian University and many others.
In the spring competition alone, contestants were awarded $100,000 in scholarships and more than $4,000 in cash prizes.
NE math instructor Kim Campbell said it’s a big deal.
“We’re encouraging all math students, even 304 and 350 students, to come get involved,” she said, “if nothing else, just so they’ll know what’s going on so that next time around they’ll be more competitive.”
The competition has two rounds, one in the spring and one in the fall. Students can still compete for cash prizes if they did not compete in the spring, but they must participate in two consecutive rounds to be eligible for scholarship awards. The fall competition takes place 2 p.m. Oct. 28 in NTAB 2203C. The next round will happen March 9.
Campbell said students should not feel intimidated. The qualifying scores for prizes are determined by averaging the spring and fall test scores.
NE associate math professor and Math Club sponsor Olena Shevchenko said students are competing against each other so they’re often on the same level.
Even students in remedial math should participate for the experience.
“A lot of students will say, ‘Oh well, I’m not good in math,’ but most students would say the same thing,” Shevchenko said. “You don’t have to have gone all the way through calculus to take this test. It’s designed for college algebra students.”
She encouraged students to take advantage of the two remaining preparation workshops being offered 1:30-2:30 p.m. Oct. 20 in NSCW 1244 and 2-3 p.m. Oct. 26 in NTAB 2114.
Students don’t have to be in the Math Club to participate, Shevchenko said. All students have to do is show up.
Students wishing to learn more about the competition can contact Shevchenko at olena.shevchenko@tccd.edu. Students interested in joining the Math Club can join through CampusCruiser under the Campus Life tab.
