1. I see the competition as a reward for a season of hard work more so than a carrot that gets them to strive. Kids who haven’t been there before don’t quite realize how cool it’s going to be!

2. The problems are challenging and the activites are creative...

3. Great Job!

4. The ones who are already on the math team, that is.

5. It is a highlight for them and they wish it was for higher grades.

6. I brought 10 students to chapter and they had a great time. I think the younger ones are excited about next year already.

1. Most: Paper airplane activity. Least: Competing in the Countdown Round (too much stress!)

2. I think they love the opportunity to be away from parents in a cool hotel setting where they can hang out with kids of similar interests. Some kids do struggle with the socializing aspect, especially if they are lone representatives of their school. The activity this year did a great job of getting kids to know each other though.

3. I think my kids like being together in the competition. They like traveling and seeing the other kids.

4. The team building on Friday night was great along with the super dinner. Saturday was pretty exciting to get through the sessions.

5. My students liked the team round because they could be “a team” and work together. And of course, they love the countdown round

6. The activities the night before were their favorite.

7. Evening Group activities (most favorite). Least: As an individual, having to stay by himself with another student (he chose to stay with his parents in another hotel)

8. Ice cream and team competition

9. Watching the other students speed at solving problems and staying in the hotel.

10. Favorite: staying at the hotel least favorite: sleeping on the floor (for the younger boys)

11. Favorite: The sprint, target, and team rounds and getting to stay overnight. Least Favorite: The Friday night activity if it goes too long.

12. Hanging out and staying overnight. The group activity at night helps them mingel with each other.

13. Students really enjoy the hotel! I think it’s great.

14. I thought the Friday night activity was great!!!!!! The countdown round takes too long, if some way the first round could be completed as we are packing or eating lunch then the final eight that would be great. I suggest looking at a video. Several things could be done to quicken the process. Have those 16 take 15 minutes before the time to practice with the buzzer. Have the next pair ready to go on the stairs. Have the moderator move the thing along quicker.

15. All written tests were favorites and countdown round least favorite.

16. Least favorite is waiting ... not much you can do about that I suppose! I think everything else is the favorite.

17. Favorite: chance to compete Least favorite: difficulty of sleeping in strange hotel

18. Favorite: Friday night activities Least Favorite: Crowding in to one room

1. The judging of the towers took too long. Suggestion: create some designated “no fly” zones for the paper airplanes - those things can get pretty dangerous!

2. Fun for the kids and well organized!

3. Please keep doing that! It is probably the best part for most kids.

4. The paper airplane activity was very chaotic. More direction in that activity may be useful. Maybe a “puzzle” of some sort that can be completed at their tables would be appropriate for occupying the students while the first activity was being judged.

5. This year it lacked structure.

6. It was nice to have the groups broken into 4 students for more interaction.

7. Best yet

8. I think it would be better to have something non-competitive, where each table built something that could be a piece of some huge structure that everyone contributed to.

9. It seemed to get a little long.

1. Countdown Round: We really need a new announcer. Timer: Voiceover got old quickly

2. There were some glitches in the Countdown Round that I am sure will be worked out by next year. Overall, the new timer/buzzer were a great addition!

3. Getting the results out seemed a bit tough with all of the separate papers. I think it would be easier for the volunteers if they were all stapled together in a packet for each school.

4. Please don’t hand out results in the back of the room while everyone is leaving. Have someone stand in the motel lobby or by the MC check in table, so there is more room and space for teams to look. That may seem out of the way, but I think it would be overall less frustrating.

5. The first part ot the Countdown Round moved very slowly. Seems to take forever to get to the questions . After 40 minutes, there were only three pairings done. Lots of crowding to get the results.

6. The Countdown problem reader should have exact notes of what is shown on the projector.

7. As beautiful as Steve Hartley’s voice is, I think it would be less intimidating if it were a female voice on the timer, and softer.

8. Countdown round needs to be sped up if possible.

9. It would be nice to get the competitive results of all the students within a week of the competition so students could see how close they were to having the top score.

10. My only complaint was the reading during the countdown. Too many delays due to mistakes in the script. It really slowed things down. And I think it’s a little unfair to the students. Answer a question correctly when it was read wrong, even though it was fine on the screen, and you may lose the round if you don’t get the next question correct. Do the rules require that someone read the questions out loud? The questions are on the screen for the students and on the big screen for the audience. The reading seems like a distraction and it slows things down. They did not read the questions at our chapter competition and it went very smoothly. Also, since the new buzzer announces the student who buzzed, the student should not have to wait to answer until someone says the same thing the system just said. That adjustment was a good idea. Do that from the start next year. Don’t start answering before the automated announcement, but let that be enough. The automated buzzer system seemed slick. Keep it!

1. They were challenged and were excited about the competition. They had a wonderful time.

2. Students who have not taken Geometry, Algebra 2 are at a distinct disadvantage.

3. Great opportunity to meet others who enjoy math.

4. They absolutely love it every year.

5. Everyone seemed very happy with the experience.

1. Very organized. Keep up the great work!

2. I think it ran very smooth this year. We appreciate all of your hard work!

3. I thought it was very well done.

4. I feel it is run exceptionally well. Especially when you consider all the volunteers that are needed to make it run so smooth. Thanks!

5. You do a fabulous job running things. Mon, Mar 22, 2010 7:10 AM findFind...

6. You do a great job juggling the enormous number of details involved in planning such an event without the craziness being obvious. From the coaches and kids’ perspective - it just seems like a pretty seamless, fun weekend event.

7. Excellent planning. The free time is just enough for the kids to unwind.

Question 7. This year's State Meet was held a little later in March than in previous years. Is this schedule better or worse for you and your students and why?

Comments:

1. This year’s State Meet fell near or on many school’s spring breaks. This made it difficult for many top students to take part in the State competition.

2. It worked great for us because we had more time to prepare between chapter and state. I worry about running into more schools being on spring break during the competition though.

3. Definitely better!

4. Worse. It coincided with the regional speech meet here. Two of my kids had to give up that meet to attend Math Counts.

5. It works to have it later to give time for additional practice.

6. Later in March is fine. Provides more time, after the Chapter competition, to prepare for the State Meet.

7. This time was better since most students were done with winter sports and just starting spring activities.

8. I think that later is better because it gives more time for practice.

9. It was worse for our school because it was the middle weekend of our two week spring break. Earlier in the month would be better!

10. Worse. It was during Spring Break, so our top students were not able to be part of the team.

11. It was much better to have it later.

12. It seemed better. We had less conflicts with other extracurricular activities.

13. It did not work well for us because it was over our spring break and we were missing some of our best students.

14. It probably would have been better for us if it had been one week later, but the timing was still good.

15. It’s hard for us because it’s smack in the middle of our two week spring break. Had our team qualified, half the team would not have been able to come. I’m not sure there’s much you can do about that, since it will always be someone’s spring break. But the middle of March works better for us. If all the chapters are earlier as they were this year, it should be enough time to get everything ready (easy for me to say!)

16. It was bad being later, due to the fact that it happened during our school district’s spring break

Question 8. Do you think parents of competitors would be willing to contribute to MATHCOUNTS and how would you suggest we do this?

Comments:

1. Yes; post a link (if you have a way for people to donate online) on your social media pages...possibly once a month in the feed to remind those who follow you about the donation opportunities. (Note: Please see the Minnesota MATHCOUNTS home page for links for online donating.)

2. I think they would contribute. It might work well if we had a nicely constructed email that explained the organization and the need for funding that we could easily forward to parents.

3. I think so. State this in the letters to parents.

4. Yes! A possible way to distribute is through the schools during the season of Math Counts. Perhaps stating that donations can happen by mail and online.

5. Yes, I think some may, especially since (at least in our school) it doesn’t cost to participate.. I’m not sure how to get them to do that though.

6. Provide a direct statement to the parents (email might the least expensive) outlining the Mathcounts organization’s use of the funds that are received by donations from individuals. Before attending the State meet, I was not aware that Mathcounts was interested in receiving donations from individuals.

7. Perhaps, but I think they should be able to be more a part of the experience. It would be nice if they could attend dinner with the students and share the experience with their child.

8. Are you meaning money? Or help? If money, it may be hard. If time, I think some would be willing to help.

9. Yes, personally email results with a hint for contributions

10. Maybe a little bit. I think that each school who qualifies for state should have a donation sheet given to its’ mathletes.

11. I think the suggestion to contribute during the awards presentation is good, but what if there were a space on the national registration form to contribute extra money for the state organizations? Then the coaches could collect it, National could keep track of it, and then funnel it back to you.

12. If they are able. Use the State Competition parent letter to tell what the needs are and ask for supprot

13. Yes. I would recommend having the coaches of all the teams send an email to the parents of the kids on the team describing how the money is funded for MATHCOUNTS with a link to the website where they can donate. Also state that every dollar counts, so they don’t have to donate much.

14. Yes, maybe a mailing to participants after the competition and explain it then.

15. I think it would be great if you could get parents e-mail and keep them updated with information and solicit $ through that.

16. Compulsory for participants but voluntary for non-participants.

17. Some might, but that would depend on their situation. And schools often ask a lot of parents in terms of paying for extras like extra-curricular activities. So it might be a stretch.

18. Yes, I would invite them to a reception after the competition with coffee and cookies and make a pitch there

Question 9. Is there something you would like to know before the competition that we are not including now in our materials?

Comments:

1. Provide information on how to follow MN MathCounts on Twitter.

2. I’ve always though it would be nice to see the chapter scores for every team coming to state just to know where our team stands. They wouldn’t even have to be linked to the teams I guess if we want to keep it anonymous - just a list of the overall scores would be fine.

3. Chapter competition team scores of those teams entering the state competition.

4. All is good! Thanks for doing a great job.

5. The materials are excellent.

6. Nope. Great job!

7. None . Very well organized.

8. No. I really appreciate the way that you are so flexible and welcoming to the students.

9. I did not know that all the MATHCOUNTS prep materials had been wiped from the Internet--that is my main

10. No. Everything from was done so well!