XENIA — A pair of Xenia elementary school students finished among the best in the country at a recent math contest.

Malachi Freed, a third grader at Tecumseh, and Colton Brown, a third grader at Arrowood, placed in the top 10 percent of all participants in the Noetic Learning Math Contest. The NLMC is a semiannual problem solving contest for elementary and middle school students. The goal of the competition is to encourage students’ interest in math, to develop their problem solving skills, and to inspire them to excel in math.

During the contest, students are given 45 minutes to solve 20 problems. Many problems are designed to challenge students and to enrich their problem solving experiences. More than 30,000 students participated in their spring contest.

Xenia entered 150 3-5 grade XTAR students, the second year students in those grades participated.

Freed and Brown each received a National Honor Roll Medal and were recognized during the July 10 school board meeting.

“We are so proud of all the students for persevering through these challenges and for putting forth tremendous effort in this unchartered endeavor,” Superintendent Denny Morrison said in an email. “We also wish to recognize our math teachers … as we truly believe the success of our students is a joint effort.”

Scott Halasz | Xenia Daily Gazette Malachi Freed (left) and Colton Brown (right) were awarded national honor roll medals for their performance in th Noetic Learning Math Contest. They were honored during the July 10 school board meeting and are pictured with board president Pam Callahan and Superintendent Denny Morrison.

http://www.xeniagazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2017/07/web1_IMG_4669.jpgScott Halasz | Xenia Daily Gazette Malachi Freed (left) and Colton Brown (right) were awarded national honor roll medals for their performance in th Noetic Learning Math Contest. They were honored during the July 10 school board meeting and are pictured with board president Pam Callahan and Superintendent Denny Morrison.