Competition is multiplying at Numbers Bee

Katie Rutman, a fourth-grader at Brandywine Springs School, pauses after computers froze during the Delaware Numbers Bee Tournament. (Buy photo) The News Journal/MATTHEW JONAS

As Miles Wang walked away from a group of photographers who'd just taken his picture Saturday, he let out an excited "Yes!" to his parents as they left Thomas McKean High School.

Wang, a fourth-grader at Linden Hill Elementary School, had just won first place in the fourth-grade division of the fifth annual Delaware Numbers Bee Tournament.

The creators of the mathematics competition held Saturday are husband-and-wife Sakthi and Kamatchi Vel, who said about 220 students competed this year. Participants in grades three through eight vie for trophies and bragging rights by seeing who can solve the most math problems online the quickest. Parents also got into the act by answering the same questions their children worked.

"This is the first time we've broken the 200 barrier," said Sakthi Vel. "This is the largest we've had so far."

This was also the fourth year Dave Skocik, host of television quiz show the Comcast Academic Challenge, served as Master of Ceremonies for the event.

"I have the pleasure of coming up and doing this every year," Skocik said. "I hope they continue to invite me."

Wang, in his second year of competition, said he was very happy with how the competition went and would compete again in the future. He added that math isn't his favorite subject, but it's the one he's best at.

Joseph Grabauskas, a seventh-grader at Cab Calloway School of the Arts and a repeat competitor, also won first place in his grade division.

"It keeps you concentrating and it's a lot of fun," Grabauskas said. "And you get to meet a lot of new people."

Rebekah McCloud, an eighth-grader at Thomas Edison Charter School who won sixth place in her grade division Saturday, said she enjoyed the opportunity to compete in mathematics.

"It's better to compete against people you don't know to see how far you can go," McCloud said.

Kamatchi Vel said they are looking for more schools to participate in the competition next year, particularly schools from Kent and Sussex counties.

Her husband said they would love to do competitions for other classroom subjects as well, such as a science competition for elementary school students. Vel said he also hopes the Numbers Bee will someday expand outside Delaware, citing how spelling bees were once small, local events.

"We'd love to grow this into a national or regional event," he said. "That's our dream."

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