Middle Schoolers compete in Math Field Day

Fifth and 6th-graders turned out at Rincon Middle School on Saturday, March 2 for a morning of intense competition. More than 160 “mathletes” (a term that combines athlete plus math) took part in the annual Math Field Day, now in its third decade in the Escondido Union School District.

Every EUSD school fielded a team, whose members together tackled hands-on math problems related to reasoning, statistics, and engineering. The teams have been training for weeks during lunch and after school under the leadership of their math coaches.

While student worked on their challenges, parents enjoyed programming just for them. STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) ambassadors from Cal State San Marcos shared with parents their partnership with the district that provides mobile making labs at all EUSD middle schools, even providing a couple of demonstrations using liquid nitrogen. 

Treobytes Executive Director Ava Mason discussed her nonprofit’s work to close the technology “skills gap,” including through its STEAM (STEM plus Arts) after-school enrichment at all EUSD middle schools and several elementary schools. Treobytes’s website describes what it does: “Treobytes, LLC is a 501c3 non-profit, providing girls and underrepresented youth equity and access to STEAM based programs . . .”

Then parents had a chance to explore STEM demonstrations from groups of students from each middle school, from programing robots to 3D printing.

The rankings of the teams are as follows:

5th Grade

Farr Avenue Elementary, 1st Place

Rose Elementary, 2nd Place

North Broadway, 3rd Place

Orange Glen Elementary, Honorable Mention

6th Grade

Del Dios Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1st Place

Quantum Academy, 2th Place

Bear Valley Middle School, 3rd Place

The Escondido branch of the math-learning center Mathnasium donated one-month memberships for every member of the two first-place teams.