MOUNT ZION - Jacob Boline's favorite subject is math.
That love of numbers manifested itself Friday as the Johns Hill
Magnet School fifth-grader took first place in his division of the
23rd annual Contig Tournament sponsored by the Macon-Piatt
Educational Service Region.
"We play Contig for fun," said Jacob's mother, Stacey Boline.
"We go out for breakfast, and he takes some dice and a game board
along. It's an addiction. At the pool in the summer, he'll say,
'Mom, give me some math facts.' "
The tournament at the Mount Zion Intermediate School saw 210
fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students competing from 34 public,
parochialand private schools in Macon and Piatt counties.
"This gives fourth-graders a chance to compete, and there aren't
many extracurricular events for fourth-graders," said Ary Anderson,
a former math teacher who has served as volunteer coordinator for
the past eight Contig tournaments.
Contig is a mathematical game that uses three dice to generate
answers. Students earn points for rolling the dices and combining
the numbers using addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division to match numbers on a game board.
They can earn extra points for matching numbers that are
contiguous with other numbers on the board that are already
taken.
Excitement ran high Friday morning, even among contestants who
knew they weren't in line for one of first-, second- or third-place
trophies that Regional Superintendent Chuck Shonkwiler eventually
bestowed on the winners.
"I won two matches and lost one," said Dillon Cunningham, a
fifth-grade student from DeLand-Weldon School District. "I won't
place. But at least I tried. I like math. I like playing and having
fun while meeting new kids."
Ryan West, a sixth-grade student at Southeast School, said,
"It's helped me at my math. I wasn't that good. But it's helped me
do math in a fun way."
