NU hosts Math Kangaroo contest

Nipissing University’s Computer Science and Mathematics department recently hosted the Canadian Math Kangaroo contest. On Sunday, March 23, 14 students from grades 3 to 8 representing North Bay and the area participated in the event.  The majority of these kids attended Math Circles, the math enrichment program organized by Nipissing’s Computer Science and Mathematics department and run by NU student volunteers.  The 2014 competition welcomed twice the number of competitors from the previous year. Math Kangaroo is a problem-solving competition for students from grades 1 to 12.  The competition is held yearly in the following Canadian cities: Calgary, Charlottetown, Coquitlam, Edmonton, Guelph, Halifax, Lethbridge, London, Montreal, Mississauga, North Bay, Ottawa, Regina, St. Catharines, Scarborough, Sherbrooke, St. John's, Sudbury, Sydney, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Vancouver, Waterloo, and Winnipeg. Special thanks to Drs. Logan Hoehn, Ihor Stasyuk, Tzvetalin Vassilev and Carmen Wehrstedt, who organized Math Circles, and the Math Kangaroo this year.  The Computer Science and Mathematics department also thanks Nipissing students, Nicole Anderson, Meghan Best, Brian Eades, Logan Ellis, Nathan LeSarge, Alyssa Mcintee, Cassandra Schiozkoske, Christopher Simmons and Rachel Stevenson, who led the Math Circles activities. Mathematics is about solving (challenging) problems, and it is important that kids with an interest in mathematics have opportunities and encouragement to participate in activities such as Math Circles or Math Kangaroo beginning at a young age.