The 71st annual West River Math Contest was held on May 8. In total, 552
middle and high school students participated.
South Dakota Mines hosted the 71st annual West River
Math Contest on Monday, May 8. In total, 552 middle and high school students from
across the region attended the annual contest that includes Algebra 1 and 2,
Geometry, Advanced Math, and Masters categories. The exams are created and
written by math professors at Mines. Thirty-nine schools came from western
South Dakota as well as northwest Nebraska. Free lunches were provided to all
participants thanks to donations from the most recent Raising for Rockers
fundraising event.
Grading was done by the entire faculty of the
Department of Mathematics at Mines, additional faculty from the Departments of
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Physics, and Nanoscience and Biomedical
Engineering, and two math faculty from Black Hills State University. A photo
album from the contest is here.
The top five contestants in each category went home
with awards. The full list of winners can be found here. The top schools were
also awarded the Julie J. Dahl Award for Best Team Performance. The 2023 overall team
winners were St. Thomas More High School in Class B and Scottsbluff High School in Class A.
Mines has held the contest since 1950. Mines
President Jim Rankin, PhD PE, took part in the event as a student in Ft. Pierre
before he entered college. “Congratulations to all of the winners and
participants who took part in this year’s event,” says Rankin. “Whether they
won awards or not, everyone has what it takes to be the future problem solvers
and STEM innovators who will tackle the world’s most pressing issues.”
Next year’s West River Math Contest is slated for
May 6, 2024.