14 years after competing, enthusiasm for math still strong

Fourteen years ago Jill Keidel was one of 100 students competing in the 1986 State Competition. This year she’ll be back at the very same hotel — but as a MATHCOUNTS chapter coordinator.

In 1986, Jill was an eighth grade student at St. Pius X Middle School in Rochester. Her team had taken first place in the Southeast Chapter competition to earn a trip to the state meet, held that year at McGuires (now called the Holiday Inn and the site of the 2000 meet). Jill was the top scorer in the regional meet. The year before, she had been an alternate for the team.

She recalls the experience fondly. “It was really fun to compete — my brain vs. someone else’s — and win. Doing well at the regional competition helped my self-confidence. Especially since, as an 8th grade girl, it wasn’t necessarily ‘cool’ to be smart. Well, taking home a trophy changes the definition of ‘cool’ in a hurry!”

Jill credits MATHCOUNTS with reinforcing the idea that she did not have to be afraid of math. “In fact,” she recalls, “it was fun to try to defeat the problems. I knew they were suppose to be hard, which made it that much better when I got them.“

It wasn’t until her second year of college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., that Jill decided on her major, and she graduated with a B.S. degree in environmental engineering. “The original plan was to pursue a degree in theoretical physics,” Jill said. “But what really attracted me to engineering was the idea of making a difference. The problem-solving possibilities offered by engineering convinced me that I could really get creative with my degree, not just passively observe neutrinos, etc.

Jill, currently a project engineer with Omni Environmental, Inc., in Rochester, shares chapter coordinator duties with Bill Angerman, another MATH-COUNTS alumni (Hastings, 1985). Jill describes it as “tag-teamed coordinating,” which she recommends. “It spreads the work load around and allows us to spend more time on individual tasks.” This is her fourth year as a coordinator. Prior to that, she volunteered for two years in the scoring room.

Her greatest challenge as coordinator is convincing rural schools to join the program. “With small class sizes, each student participates in nearly all activities so we have our hands full convincing the students they need to give up one of their busy weekends for math.” What she likes best is contacting new schools and bringing them into the event. “I get to wax eloquent on the virtues of math!

Jill is enthusiastic about math and/or engineering as a career choice. “The study of mathematics give you the logical framework to succeed at nearly any problem-solving task. And engineering is by far one of the most creative professions. It’s a way of life.”

“One thing that I learned from engineering,” she added, “is that you can’t take a cookie cutter approach to life. All the formulas in the world can’t describe every situation. The best thing you can do for yourself is to liberate yourself by learning how to think.”

Rewards of teaching are many for former teacher

Noreen, a senior process development engineer in the Lithium Polymer Battery Lab for the 3M Automotive Division, started in the 3M Tutor Program in 1982 and tutored for her children’s teachers in elementary school. When her daughter entered junior high, Noreen found out the school needed a volunteer coach for the Math League and she signed up.

Now she goes to the junior high once or twice a week for two to three weeks a month. The homeroom period — between 8:35 and 8:55 a.m. — is the best time, Noreen found, to get students involved. “So many of them have after-school activities and they don’t seem to mind missing homeroom.”

Her volunteer experience is concentrated between mid-September through January or February. At the beginning of the school year, she works with about 15 students, including some 9th graders who are involved in Math League. When that program is over in January, she works with 7th and 8th grade students who want to continue with MATHCOUNTS.

Her first year as a MATHCOUNTS coach saw her team placing first in the 1999 chapter competition and second at the state meet in Mankato. “Because I was willing to put in a little extra time into coaching MATHCOUNTS, these students enjoyed a great couple of days competing with other very talented young people.

“Although academic competitions don’t get the same kind of recognition as sports competitions,” Noreen continued," the students that compete are every bit as talented. It was just amazing watching the students compete in the oral Countdown Round, answering difficult math problems in seconds that many adults would not be able to answer at all.”

Recruiting students is a challenge. “There are so many sports and activities students want to be involved in,” Noreen explained. She works with math teachers to obtain names of students who might want to participate. This year she used evaluation sheets by sixth grade teachers to find 7th grade students with math potential and called them at home to explain Math League and MATHCOUNTS.

Noreen hopes to talk to elementary schools this year to identify potential 7th graders for next year. “Once I get students involved, most will continue year after year. I think it is because they like the challenge and have fun.”

Noreen readily encourages others to coach. “It’s such a rewarding experience to work with these talented students and provide them with challenges and opportunities that they might not otherwise have. I think it also shows the school and the students that people in the community and the business world care about giving something back and providing positive role models.”

Noreen has a BA degree in elementary education from Michigan State University. After teaching for a year, she went back to school for a degree in Chemical Engineering from Ohio State University. She’s worked for 3M since 1981.