nwasianweekly.com
April 26, 2008

Who says kids these days are lazy? More than 300 students attended the 2008 National Mathematics and Science Competition, held April 19 at Microsoft. The event was organized by the Korean American Scientists and Engineers Association, Pacific Northwest Chapter.
See Page 4 for story

Smarties come out to play at Microsoft

By James Tabafunda
Northwest Asian Weekly

Many students take Saturday mornings off to sleep in, watch TV, or maybe play some sports — not Dong Gyun Kim, a sixth-grade student in Spokane. He enjoys mathematics and traveled with his parents almost 300 miles to Microsoft’s corporate headquarters in Redmond to enter a math competition.

He joined a selective group of about 300 other, mostly Korean American, students from around the state at the 2008 National Mathematics and Science Competition (NMSC) held April 19 at the Microsoft Conference Center. The math exam for students in the fourth through 11th grades, organized by the Korean American Scientists and Engineers Association, Pacific Northwest Chapter (KSEA-PNC), began at 11:00 a.m. to synchronize with the starting times at more than 20 cities around the U.S. and five cities in Canada.

In a 2003 study done by the National Center for Education Statistics, fourth-grade students in the U.S. as a group scored lower on math tests than fourth-grade students in 11 other countries. According to the national KSEA, the goal of the NMSC is to promote students’ “interest in mathematics and careers in the fields of science and engineering.”

Cheryl Lee, senior product manager/unlimited potential group at Microsoft, was the lead organizer for this year’s competition and has helped put it together for the last seven years. Having earned her degree in mechanical engineering, she agrees with the national KSEA’s goal and said, “What I’d like to see is for these kids to enjoy math. I don’t want them to see it as this technical area that you just have to drill them on.”

She added, “It’s more than just the math, itself, but the fact that they participate in a competition like this. I think that experience, itself, is good. Not only just the participation in a math contest, but through being exposed to keynote speakers from a variety of backgrounds. I think that collective experience is what’s really valuable for these kids.”

KSEA-PNC wants to allow more students from different ethnic groups to enter, according to Lee. “The task of not only presenting the exam, but also correcting, proctoring and scoring, I mean, it’s so much work. Because of the resources, they’re stretched in terms of reaching out to everybody,” she pointed out. “Actually, we do have several (Caucasian and other non-Korean students) here today as well.”

Junho Cha, KSEA-PNC’s president, said the group had over 40 volunteers this year to run the chapter’s 11th math competition. Volunteers included University of Washington professors, Boeing engineers and Microsoft employees.

The 2008 recipients of KSEA-PNC’s Gold Awards: (Fourth Grade) Seung Yeob Lee, SDA School; (Fifth Grade) Jenny Park, Terrace Park School; (Sixth Grade) Hyun-Jun An, Illahee Middle School; (Seventh Grade) Rick Jung, Community Christian Academy; (Eighth Grade) Min-Seung Choi, King’s Junior High School; (Ninth Grade) Chris Lim, Evergreen Junior High School; (10th Grade) Hyuk Joon Choi, Kamiak High School; (11th Grade) Brian Jeon, Kamiak High School. Each student received a plaque, certificate and other prizes.

Gold Award winners’ math scores will be compared with those of Gold Award winners at other KSEA chapters. The student with the highest math score from each grade will receive a $400 cash prize; second place, $250; and third place, $150.

Two students from each grade at the local competition won Silver Awards, and three students from each grade won Bronze Awards.

The science portion of the event consisted of students forming teams and working together to solve specific science problems in order to create various objects. For the fourth- and fifth-graders, the four students on each team built rubber-band-powered airplanes under the guidance of KSEA-PNC members.

Tenth- and 11th-graders put soccer ball prototypes together after first making development drawings of their individual parts. No awards for science were handed out.

Despite falling snow hours before the competition, Cha is happy with how many students attended the event. Since 2002, “We have been very proud and privileged to witness that this annual event has become one of the most successful academic events among the nationwide Korean American communities. This event not only boosts students’ scholastic achievements, but motivates them to work together with other community members,” he said.

While the students took their exams, Chang Mook Sohn, a Democratic candidate for Washington State treasurer, spoke in Korean about the importance of discipline in a seminar geared to the parents.

For more information about the 2008 KSEA National Mathematics and Science Competition, visit nmc.ksea.org/NMSC2008. For more information about the Korean American Scientists and Engineers Association, Pacific Northwest Chapter, visit www.ksea-pnc.org

James Tabafunda can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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