Date:  February 4, 2003
Contact: Irene Cromer
(703) 791-8720

 Three Brentsville District High School senior math students have earned a Meritorious recognition in COMAP, the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications, Fifth Annual High School Mathematics Contest in Modeling.  Crystal Phipps, Holly Smelser and Robert Tylka had only a 36-hour period to solve a math problem.  The team selected The Falling Ladder problem from two real-world modeling problems.  It required them to build a mathematical model for the motion of a ladder.  The team constructed their solution and submitted the fifteen-page packet in November.  Cynthia Baird, math teacher and sponsor, worked with the students during off-school hours.

 A total of 349 teams, with up to four students each, competed from across the United States and the nation in the COMAP contest.  The eleventh grade Brentsville District High School Team, sponsored by Jennifer Rhawn, received an Honorable Mention distinction.  Jacqueline Bailey, Sarah Pittman, Kevin Sullivan and Noah Sturcken also solved The Falling Ladder problem. 

 COMAP, a non-profit organization, strives to improve mathematics education for students of all ages.  It works with teachers, students, and business people to create learning environments where mathematics is used to investigate and model real issues in the world by developing curriculum materials and teacher development programs that are multidisciplinary, academically rigorous, and fun for teachers to teach and students to learn.