The HBA math team took first place in the small schools division at this year's Hawaii State Math Bowl on May 3, 2008, held at BYU-Hawaii in Laie. HBA set a new record for the small schools division by scoring 80 points, four points behind the large schools division winner Iolani. The Math Bowl, which began in 1978, is a highly competitive event in which schools attempt to earn the most points by answering correctly a series of questions covering a wide spectrum of mathematics topics.
"This is a huge and historic accomplishment for HBA," said math teacher Alan Yeh. "We were outscoring all other teams, including the teams from the large schools division, for most of the competition. No other small school in the history of the Math Bowl has scored this high and come this far. All the coaches are very proud of our students."
The HBA team is comprised of seniors
Sean Arakaki,
Jeffrey Chen, and
Kevin Kurata, and juniors
Kelsey Abe,
Alyssa Imai, and
Charisse Ongie. Arakaki, Chen, and Kurata made up the official three-member scoring team for HBA. These students dedicated many hours after school to practices and are among some of HBA's top math students. They are coached by math teachers Ross Mukai, Pat Ota, Brad Shimizu, and Yeh.
HBA has come in first place five times previously, most recently in 2004.
On a related note, Arakaki placed in the top 10 among all students in the state in the Oahu Mathematics League this year. He was recognized at this year's last math meet in April.
Other Related Articles:
Honolulu Advertiser:
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2008/May/03/br/hawaii80503054.htmlCelebrating STEM Education:
http://hawaii.gov/gov/news/events/2008/may/celebrating-stem-education
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