Kids swarm to school for Saturday math test
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Staff Writer

Mayor Nancy Grbelja awards Vishnu Venkatesh the bronze medal for the eighth-grade portion of the Mathkinz.com competition at the Millstone Township Middle School Jan. 31.

MILLSTONE — Area kids love math.

More than 150 children in grades 2-8 went to school on a Saturday to take a math test when the Millstone Township Middle School hosted the Mathkinz.com math competition Jan. 31. Mathkinz.com is a free Web site created by a Millstone family that helps children in grades pre-K-8 learn math through various worksheets, tests and games.

"This test was planned just before the state exam NJASK to give an opportunity both to parents and to kids to assess themselves and their capability and improve on their deficits," Millstone's Nirlesh Jain, creator of Mathkinz.com, said. "There was no financial interest in it. It is a pure community service for our developing kids to help make their future better."

The recent math competition was the second Mathkinz.com has hosted since the Web site launched last year. The 2008 meet drew 100 participants. This year, 175 children registered for the event and 150 showed up to compete.

Jain said the participants were prepared and excited for the testing.

"They refreshed their math concepts and tested at home," he said. "Lots of kids came from far off places to attend this math competition. A kid named Spencer came all the way from Indiana to participate."

Students in each grade level had 30 minutes to complete a 100-question math test. The top three scorers in each grade level won prizes presented by Millstone TownshipMayor Nancy Grbelja. First place winners received a gold trophy and $25 gift card. Second place winners received silver trophies and movie tickets and third place winners received a bronze medal and movie tickets.

In the second-grade competition, Sajal Duppatla won the gold trophy with a score of 89, while Hrishikesh Bopalkar won the silver with 73 points and Tasneem Mohammad won the bronze with 73 points.

In the third-grade competition, John Hoban won the gold trophy with a score of 88, while Kunal Adhia won the silver with 83 points and Zachary Kokot won the bronze with 72 points.

In the fourth-grade competition, Manas Garg won the gold trophy with 75 points, while Ajay Gandhi won the silver with 69 points and Noah Liao won the bronze with 62 points.

In the fifth-grade competition, Bobby Galindo won the gold trophy with a score of 61, while Abheek won the silver with 54 points and Monal Garg won the bronze with 53 points.

In the sixth-grade competition, Varun Jain won the gold trophy with a score of 77, while Akhil Copu won the silver with 71 points and Shivam Patel won the bronze with 68 points.

In the seventh-grade competition, Yash Patel won the gold trophy with a score of 63 and Karan Raiput won the silver with 50 points. There was no third place winner in this category.

In the eighth-grade competition, David Wong won the gold trophy with a score of 94, while Shivam Patel won the silver with 73 points and Vishnu Venkatesh won the bronze with 50 points.

The Mathkinz.com creators, who hosted the meet in the Millstone Township Community Center last year, said they were happy to partner with the school district for the event this year.

"There was more space and the presentation was better," Jain said. "There were also better facilities, like a projector and microphone. People [from outside of the township] liked the new school and seemed interested in moving to Millstone."

Jain said Mathkinz.com plans to hold another math competition in September. He said children can brush up on their math skills with new worksheets and quizzes at Mathkinz.com. He said the site also has new information regarding the math portion of the NJASK test.

"Lots of math tests have been added, which can help kids in preparing for NJASK," Jain said.

Jain thanked all of the children, parents, volunteers and sponsors who helped make the second Mathkinz.com competition a success.

The event's main sponsor was Hamilton Cardiology Associates in Hamilton Township. He said Andy and Shipra Jain and Purva and Mahesh Samdani provided donuts and bagels for the event and Madhu and Subash Sehgal provided coffee and tea.

"I would also like to thank Madhu Sehgal and Jaskiran Kaur for testing the questions," he said. "Special thanks to volunteers for grading the exams."