Math Team

Statistics come easy to North County's Eric Howard. Sportswriters need calculators to keep up with his numbers, but the record-setting senior quarterback counts just fine in his head.After firing three touchdown passes Friday night in a 47-14 romp over Glen Burnie (3-6) to set a Baltimore metro-area record for touchdown passes (26) in a season, Howard was off to a math contest Saturday morning.Howard, who carries a 3.7 grade-point average and goes by his middle name (William is his real first name)

The student: Scott Spranklin, 16 School: Oakland Mills High Special achievement: Scott scored a perfect 800 on the math portion of the SATs. What makes you so good at math? "My dad gets a lot of the credit," Scott said. "He used to give me math quizzes when I was little. He taught me to multiply when I was 4 years old." Math in his future: Scott plans a career in finance. "I'd like to be a stockbroker or financial analyst. It combines all the things I'm interested in, like national issues and politics.

Old Mill High School's "It's Academic" team will appear on the quiz show at 1:30 p.m. Saturday on WJZ-TV, Channel 13.Team members are Saul Cohen, Damien Rockwell and Peter Park. The alternates are Steven Calder, Bryan Osborn, Whitney Blake, Matt Quarrick and Shital Chatda.Several of the "It's Academic" team members and alternates are also on the school's math team, which won the county competition Saturday at Anne Arundel Community College.Math team members are Steven Calder, Saul Cohen, Toni Chies, Laura Cooney, Michelle Deschaine, Kajal Pancholi, Jeremy Keil, Andrew Greb, Adam Remager, Bryan Osborn and Shannon Ostiguy.

TAKOMA PARK -- I've always thought parents knew best when it came to their children's education. But I'm ready to alter that view based on some parents' responses to Montgomery County's latest school cheating scandal. School officials say math teachers at Silver Spring International Middle School (SSI) obtained advance copies of the math portion of a nationwide test given in Maryland called the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS). Investigators add that teachers used the copies to prepare review lessons and two of them gave students the actual test questions for homework in advance of the exam.

TAKOMA PARK -- I've always thought parents knew best when it came to their children's education. But I'm ready to alter that view based on some parents' responses to Montgomery County's latest school cheating scandal. School officials say math teachers at Silver Spring International Middle School (SSI) obtained advance copies of the math portion of a nationwide test given in Maryland called the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS). Investigators add that teachers used the copies to prepare review lessons and two of them gave students the actual test questions for homework in advance of the exam.

The No. 1-ranked Oakland Mills boys soccer team isn't just making noise on the field this season.Seven Scorpions, recruited by math team coach John Brown, added an unusual twist to the Oct. 13 countywide math meet held in the Hammond High cafeteria.While other math teams warmed up on their calculators in preparation for the meet, Oakland Mills made its grand entrance listening to rap music on the boom box of soccer manager and math team captain Regi Altima.Just before the meet began, they formed a team huddle and chanted "Oakland Mills, Oakland Mills."

The student: William Meyerson, 17. The school: Wilde Lake High School. Special achievement: William was one of five Wilde Lake seniors who was named a National Merit semifinalist. School activities: He participates on the Math team, the "It's Academic" team and the Lincoln-Douglas Debate team at school. He is also on the ice hockey team. College plans: William has centered his college focus on the University of California at Berkeley and plans to major in mathematics. At Wilde Lake, he studies math, German and chemistry.

The student: Scott Spranklin, 16 School: Oakland Mills High Special achievement: Scott scored a perfect 800 on the math portion of the SATs. What makes you so good at math? "My dad gets a lot of the credit," Scott said. "He used to give me math quizzes when I was little. He taught me to multiply when I was 4 years old." Math in his future: Scott plans a career in finance. "I'd like to be a stockbroker or financial analyst. It combines all the things I'm interested in, like national issues and politics.

IF YOU are looking for a last-minute gift and want to help a good cause for the whole year, consider buying a "Dine and Fun" book from a member of the Kiwanis Club of Odenton.The books cost $12 and offer a number of bargains on entertainment in the county, club President Jean McConville said.For additional information about the books, call Donna Kulak at (301) 621-7277.Money raised from this sale -- and from bake sales and raffles -- is used to support a number of community projects.The club sponsors Boy Scout Troop 721, a Meade Senior High School Key Club and a Builder Club and Key Club at the Old Mill school complex.

Felicity Ross has the seventh-graders in her second-period class talking about relationships, but not the kind you might think. She has just asked them to draw two triangles, and they're trying to figure out how the angles and sides are related. No one can figure it out at first, but Ross keeps prodding them until one boy catches on. "The smallest angle is opposite the smallest side!" says Leonardo Apolonio, 12. This is a typical morning in Ross' classroom at Hampden's Robert Poole Middle School, but Ross is not typical.

Felicity Ross has the seventh-graders in her second-period class talking about relationships, but not the kind you might think. She has just asked them to draw two triangles, and they're trying to figure out how the angles and sides are related. No one can figure it out at first, but Ross keeps prodding them until one boy catches on. "The smallest angle is opposite the smallest side!" says Leonardo Apolonio, 12. This is a typical morning in Ross' classroom at Hampden's Robert Poole Middle School, but Ross is not typical.

The student: William Meyerson, 17. The school: Wilde Lake High School. Special achievement: William was one of five Wilde Lake seniors who was named a National Merit semifinalist. School activities: He participates on the Math team, the "It's Academic" team and the Lincoln-Douglas Debate team at school. He is also on the ice hockey team. College plans: William has centered his college focus on the University of California at Berkeley and plans to major in mathematics. At Wilde Lake, he studies math, German and chemistry.

The No. 1-ranked Oakland Mills boys soccer team isn't just making noise on the field this season.Seven Scorpions, recruited by math team coach John Brown, added an unusual twist to the Oct. 13 countywide math meet held in the Hammond High cafeteria.While other math teams warmed up on their calculators in preparation for the meet, Oakland Mills made its grand entrance listening to rap music on the boom box of soccer manager and math team captain Regi Altima.Just before the meet began, they formed a team huddle and chanted "Oakland Mills, Oakland Mills."

AT BUSHY Park Elementary School, a group of fifth-graders entered the Math Olympiad, a national mathematics competition, this past school year.Each month, from November through March, the students were challenged with five math problems. (Some parents tried a few practice problems and agreed that they were challenging.)Recently, teacher and math coach Pam Koffel learned that the team received a Meritorious Team Award -- recognizing the group for scoring in the top 20 percent of all participating fifth-grade teams.

A 14-MEMBER mathematics team from Arundel Middle School took third place in the county competition at Central Middle School in Edgewater.The students participated in individual and team events against 14 other teams.Congratulations to Lydia Briers, Kristen Coffelt, Meredith Dobish, Amy Gorman, Craign Haas, Emily Higgins, Katie Kwiatkowski, Lara Paoline, Cliff Peterson, Jessica Piercy, Caitlin Reinhardt, Matthew Rose, Stephen Waskiewicz and Josie Zohny.Bull roastThe Greater Odenton Improvement Association will have a bull roast from 7 p.m. to midnight, Saturday at the Odenton Fire Hall, Route 175, Odenton.

IF YOU are looking for a last-minute gift and want to help a good cause for the whole year, consider buying a "Dine and Fun" book from a member of the Kiwanis Club of Odenton.The books cost $12 and offer a number of bargains on entertainment in the county, club President Jean McConville said.For additional information about the books, call Donna Kulak at (301) 621-7277.Money raised from this sale -- and from bake sales and raffles -- is used to support a number of community projects.The club sponsors Boy Scout Troop 721, a Meade Senior High School Key Club and a Builder Club and Key Club at the Old Mill school complex.

Name: Adam Meyerson of Severna ParkHigh School: Junior, Severna ParkAccomplishments: 3.92 grade-point average. One of 25 winners of the 1991 USA Mathematical Olympiad, student aide at the school's math department. Over the summer, he worked at Goddard Space Center. Started high school-level math in the eighth grade, now in the school's accelerated math program.Numerous college-level math courses at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Wisconsin and Franklin and Marshall College. For his senior year, Adam plans a home-study program in number theory with his father, a math professor at the Naval Academy.

The Rev. Kevin Farmer, a 1983 Glenelg High School graduate and the son of John and Rosemary Farmer of Glenwood, is the youngest priest in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.At 8 p.m. May 26 he will deliver a nonreligious baccalaureate address to members of the Glenelg class of 1994 in the school auditorium.The students planned this voluntary part of graduation activities for themselves and the community. Ralph Cullison III, father of graduating senior Ralph Cullison IV, will preside at the baccalaureate, which will be an inspirational time for graduating students to reflect on their achievements and their futures.

Old Mill High School's "It's Academic" team will appear on the quiz show at 1:30 p.m. Saturday on WJZ-TV, Channel 13.Team members are Saul Cohen, Damien Rockwell and Peter Park. The alternates are Steven Calder, Bryan Osborn, Whitney Blake, Matt Quarrick and Shital Chatda.Several of the "It's Academic" team members and alternates are also on the school's math team, which won the county competition Saturday at Anne Arundel Community College.Math team members are Steven Calder, Saul Cohen, Toni Chies, Laura Cooney, Michelle Deschaine, Kajal Pancholi, Jeremy Keil, Andrew Greb, Adam Remager, Bryan Osborn and Shannon Ostiguy.

Tara BrownSchool: Atholton High SchoolHometown: ColumbiaAge: 17Tara, a senior at Atholton, carries a 4.0 grade-point average. Her honors and awards include being named a Maryland Distinguished Scholar finalist, a National Merit Scholar honorable mention, membership in the National Honor Society, a Rensselaer Medal for Excellence in Science and Mathematics and a Rensselaer Scholarship.Tara's musical endeavors have included participating with her church as a backup singer to Barry Manilow at Merriweather Post Pavilion during her freshman year.