May 11, 2009 – The Virgin Islands MathCounts team under the leadership of Coach Michele Garcia, math professor at Antilles School, returned tonight from Orlando, Florida. Four middle school students out of 128 who competed at both the island and territory levels had qualified for an all-expenses-paid trip to Orlando's Swan & Dolphin Resort, along with passes to Disney World and a chance to compete at the National MathCounts Competition.
The four students who traveled to Orlando are team captain Jordan Ladd, 8th grader at Antilles School; William Van Rensselaer, 8th grader at Antilles School; Chris Carr, 7th grader at Country Day School; and Taylor Ladd, 7th grader at Antilles School. They joined 224 other mathletes, the top four from each state and territory for the national competition, which took place on Friday, May 8.
Jordan Ladd is the first student from the Virgin Islands ever to go to the national competition all three years in a row, and he was recognized on stage as one of only seven "three-peat" mathletes in this year's competition.
Sporting different team uniforms every day, from VI Tourism T-shirts, to Dr. Seuss T-shirts with Rasta hats and wigs, to Carnival 2009 T-shirts, the V.I. team won the Team Spirit award, beating out 56 other teams for an award recognizing team character, personality, enthusiasm and cooperation, as well as friendliness and courtesy to others.
