Richmond Middle School Coach Tom Wharton of Richmond Middle School, left, will serve as coach of New Hampshire's team during MATHCOUNTS national competition in Orlando, Fla., in May. The four-person team includes, from left, Rhys Yap, of St. John Regional School; Agastya Chakrabarti, of Richmond Middle School; Edward Elmore, of Cooperative Middle School; and Harvey Vale Dwyer, of Richmond Middle School. (Courtesy MATHCOUNTS)

A team representing Hanover’s Richmond Middle School won the New Hampshire State MATHCOUNTS last month at NH Technical Institute in Concord.

Teammates Ian Bick, Agastya Chakrabarti, Aarik Chakrabarty and Harvey Vale Dwyer, competed against 11 other teams for the state title. Hanover High School math teacher Tom Wharton coached the middle school team, according to a news release from NH State MATHCOUNTS.

Two of those students โ€” Agastya and Harvey โ€” will represent New Hampshire at MATHCOUNTS’ national competition in Washington, DC, in May. They will be joined by Rhys Yap, of St. John Regional School in Concord, and Edward Elmore, of Cooperative Middle School in Stratham, N.H. Wharton will serve as coach of the team during the national competition.

There were 10 students from Richmond Middle School who participated in the competition. Around 70 students is grades 6 to 8 from 23 New Hampshire schools participated in the competition; 12 schools โ€” which can form teams of up to four students โ€” participated in the team competition. The contest also includes a written test to determine which students will represent New Hampshire at MATHCOUNTS’ national competition in Orlando, Fla., in May.

The New Hampshire branch of the national MATHCOUNTS program is sponsored by the New Hampshire Society of Professional Engineers and the New Hampshire Teachers of Mathematics, according to the release.

Four Upper Valley elementary schools win awards in Vermont Destination Imagination competition

Students at Randolph Elementary School won first place in the elementary school fine arts challenge at the statewide Vermont Destination Imagination competition last month.

“Teams from all around Vermont presented their innovative solutions to Challenges with a Technical, Arts, or Engineering focus, which they had worked for several months,” according to a news release from the Vermont chapter of the national Destination Imagination organization. “They also collaborated with teammates on quick-thinking Instant Challenges, and did a new top-secret one at the Tournament.”

Albert Bridge School’s Destination Imagination Team The Foxes came in third place in the middle level of the technical level segment of the Vermont Destination Imagination competition last month. Members of The Foxes include, from left: Maddie Harrington, fifth grade; Ani Burakian, fourth grade; Gus Sachs-Fahlander, fifth grade; Lev Burakian, sixth grade; and Aspen Long, sixth grade. (Courtesy Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union)

Brownsville’s Albert Bridge School came in second place and South Royalton Elementary School came in third place in the fine arts challenge portion for the elementary level of the competition. Randolph Elementary School also won first place in the middle school level of the fine arts challenge.

Randolph Elementary School came in second place in the elementary level for the technical challenge portion of the competition, followed by South Royalton Elementary School in third place. In the middle level, Sharon Elementary School came in second and Albert Bridge School came in third.

Sharon Elementary School sixth-graders, from left, Breezy Loughran, Maya Sotak and Nora Davis participated in the statewide Vermont Destination Imagination competition last month. (Courtesy Sharon Elementary School)

Sharon Elementary School students also earned the Spirit of Discovery and Imagination award “for outstanding spirit, teamwork, volunteerism and/or sportsmanship,” according to the release.

Grant supports composting at Upper Valley schools

The Tiny Seed Project, an East Hardwick, Vt.-based nonprofit organization, received a $33,753 grant from the the Vermont Farm to School and Early Childhood Program to expand partnerships and technical support for the Sharon-based Upper Valley Super Compost Project, according to a news release from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets.

โ€œCompost technical service provides an invaluable benefit to schools, communities, and soil,โ€ Super Compost Project Director Cat Buxton said in a news release. โ€œThrough our program, we are developing a new generation of professionals trained to monitor, evaluate, and adjust school- and community-scale composting systems. These folks read compost like students read a book.โ€

The Super Compost Project works with numerous Upper Valley schools, including Sharon Elementary School, Newbury (Vt.) Elementary School, Samuel Morey Elementary School in Fairlee, Westshire Elementary School in West Fairlee, Albert Bridge Elementary School in Brownsville, and Marion Cross Elementary School in Norwich, according to its website. The Tiny Seed Project serves as the Super Compost Project’s fiscal sponsor.

The grant will allow the nonprofit organization to better manage its on-site school composting systems. It will also help improve training for farm-to-school coordinators and others who work on the composting programs.

Email academic accomplishments to schoolnotes@vnews.com.

CORRECTION: Agastya Chakrabarti and Aarik Chakrabarty were part of a team representing Hanover’s Richmond Middle School that won the New Hampshire State MATHCOUNTS last month at NH Technical Institute in Concord. A previous version of this story misspelled their last names.

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.