From left, Math rumble winners Nate Burger, Drew Madoff and Rory Siegel.

  With excitement and intensity worthy of fans at an NCAA March Madness game, students at O'Donnell Middle School participated in an MCAS math tournament. 

  Beginning in January, the math contest spanned over four months, culminating in a math rumble last week. 

        The winners were 8th grade students Rory Siegel, Nate Burger and Drew Madoff.

        In an effort to add some extra math education into the day, school staff came up with the idea for the voluntary competition. MCAS math tutor Marion White selected appropriate questions and helped organize the math activities for the event.

        Within days of the kickoff, 536 students of the schools 900 signed on. Grouped into teams of three or four, the students picked names, like Boston Math Sox or Math Geeks, and got to work answering up to 10 "Math Questions of the Week." The students took the questions and spent time during the week answering them with their groups.

        Those who answered correctly had their team names placed in a hat. Winners were picked out weekly and received small prizes, like a piece of candy.

        Early this month, the week before students embarked on MCAS, the Math Madness in May tournament began in the schoolís cafeteria. Starting with the 6th grade participants, the teams played a single elimination round. With a minute to respond, teams were required to write their answers on a white board and hold it up for the judge.  

        "It got really exciting--the kids were cheering and jumping up and down--you don't see that in math," said O'Donnell Middle School Principal Wayne Hester.

  Read the complete article in the Stoughton Journal.