Pioneer School Cleans Up at Weekend Awards Ceremonies

Math Is Cool Competition

Over 800 students competed in the 4th grade Math Is Cool Competition at Mt. Spokane High School on March 22nd. Pioneer School won first place in the top division with a team of four girls, Avisha Patil, Anja Newcombe, Sabrina Downey, and Calista Edwards. The team was coached by Vivek Patil. The team studied hard for several months to compete in individual written tests, verbal mental math quizzes, team relays, and college bowl. The Math Is Cool competition requires not only individual intelligence, but collaboration. This team excelled in both of those areas, while having fun. Pioneer has been competing in Math Is Cool since it started in 1988.

Invent Washington

Over 350 students participated in Invent Washington’s K-8 invention competition on March 23rd. The event was held at North Central High School, sponsored by Prodigy Northwest. Students competed in seven categories including health, energy and the environment, agriculture and animals, consumer services, entertainment, Jules Verne, education, and public safety.

Category awards were given for first, second, and third place. Thirty Best of Show awards were given across grade levels and categories, qualifying students for the 2018 National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo (NICEE) in Dearborn, Michigan. Out of twenty-five Pioneer students who qualified to enter the competition, sixteen students took home 1st through 3rd place ribbons, including seven students who earned Best of Show ribbons including Spencer Jack (1st grade), Roman Tiemann (2nd grade), Vivian Edwards (2nd grade), Wyatt Wimberly (4th grade), Calista Edwards (4th grade), Julia Ward (4th grade), and Anja Newcombe (4th grade). With an enrollment of only 56 students, Pioneer School won more awards than any other school, beating out many larger schools and districts across the state.