Dear Parents, As many of you already know, this is my final year of teaching and coaching math. I cannot leave this program without saying thank you to all the parent volunteers who have helped us over the four years I have been part of the RaiderMath Math Club. Your efforts are what make this whole program work. Every year we pay fees to participate in a variety of math competitions which are local to national in scope. These include Mathcounts, American Mathematics Competitions (AMC), Continental Math League, Texas Coaches’ Math and Science Association (TMSCA), Texas Math League, and others. We also need to buy practice materials to help the students prepare for these competitions. We take approximately 90 qualified mathletes to the state TMSCA tournament each year. As you know, this trip includes an overnight stay in San Antonio. Without our funding, the cost of this trip would be onerous, if not impossible, for some of our kids. The funding for all of this comes as a result of your good efforts. Last summer our club was able to give the school a grant of over $6,000 toward purchasing the latest in calculator technology for our algebra classrooms. With this grant our algebra students now work with the latest math classroom technology, Texas Instruments Nspire CX calculators that are linked together through a classroom wireless network. This year we found ourselves in a position to offer partial scholarships to our top mathletes to attend summer competition math workshops. These scholarships range from $100 to $300. This will enable our best kids the opportunity to improve and hone their skills. These scholarships will total close to $3,000. Most of these funds come from two math tournaments we host here at Quail Valley. Over the past four years the Quail Valley Math Tournament held in early December has become one of the largest Mathcounts style tournaments in the state (if not the country) with over 300 participants. Likewise our TMSCA Regional Qualifier in March also ranks with the largest. This year the 400+ contestants took over 1,200 tests. Entry fees and concessions mean these two events bring us significant revenues. And without your generous giving of time and effort, these events would not happen at all. And through our volunteers who work for ExxonMobil we receive some funds from the company which matches employee community service time with grants. In addition to everything outlined above, there is an intangible that comes from your kindness that makes our work easier. Knowing we have this kind of community support makes things a lot easier and gives us an extremely comfortable feeling. And yes, there are days when we need this. So, from the bottom of my heart, I say, Thank you. Don Simmons |
RaiderMathRaiderMath is the Math Club at Quail Valley Middle School. The club emphasizes competition and is active in many contests throughout the school year. Archives
February 2022
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