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Pentathlon champs take bows

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They jingled as they walked.

Many Newport Coast Elementary students were honored in front of their whole school when they won more than 100 medals from the Academic Pentathlon and the 18th Annual Orange County Mathematics Field Day.

Eighteen of the school’s sixth-graders, divided into two teams, received medals at the pentathlon in their first-ever year of competition on May 2. They received their results May 19.

The two teams took first and second place overall in the competition against 71 schools from as far away as Palmdale. Every student earned at least two medals, with several taking the maximum of seven medals each.

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Students spent four days a week for 16 weeks studying, starting early in the morning, with four of the school’s teachers who took time to work with them on each of the test topics. Kids had to sign commitment forms to show their dedication before joining.

The competition includes five academic tests: the Essay, Literature, Mathematics, the Science Super Quiz (a team effort) and Social Science, which focused on ancient China. Students could receive medals for each of the competitions, as well as overall individual and overall team honors.

The pentathlon encourages both individual leadership and team effort, and students spend months preparing for the annual event.

The school’s math team won a record-setting nine medals at the May 16 field day against other schools from South Orange County. Students formed four-member teams from the upper grades and spent the day competing against 26 schools in topics like Mathematical Reasoning, Statistics & Data Analysis, Number Sense, Measurement and Geometry, and Algebra.

The kids took more medals than any other school at the competition, parents said, after studying two days per week since the end of February.

Many kids said the hardest part of the competition was the Number Sense section, which requires them to complete feats of mental math. But they had the most fun with the Measurement and Geography portion, which required them to float a boat made of nametags filled with pennies.

“The most exciting part is when you walk out of the room and know you did well,” said Annelise Bui, 9.

Three parent coaches, Darla Conde, Loan Pham and Brigitte Bui, worked with the kids in their instruction for the competition, put on by the Orange County Mathematics Council.

But the other parents gave all the credit to Conde for her coordination.

“She is truly the heart of our team,” Pham said. “Without her, we would not have been so successful.”

The fifth grade team took five medals — making them the only fifth-grade team to take home medals in every category — and took first place in Measurement and Geography.

Newport Coast’s fourth-graders took four medals, the highest number of all other schools in their grade.


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