5 days ago
Generation ROC: Local third graders win second at state math competition
EAST ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — You may not be smarter than this trio of third graders, but that's okay—they're just that good! The team from East Rochester Elementary School already sits atop the county having earned the highest regional scores in the First In Math competition.
They quickly and excitedly started to prepare to compete for state gold.
'I knew I would have to practice a lot, and I knew it would take great effort. I thought it would be very fun and I knew we would do a good job,' says Charles Parr.
'[I was] really excited, because like two of my best friends were doing it too, and they got highest too, so we got to do it together,' adds teammate, Matthew Paratore.
Charles, Matthew, and Daniel Walter spent weeks practicing together for the New York State tournament in Albany. Even though two had tried this before, this was Charles' first time in the statewide spotlight.
'We had this board and we would practice putting cards with different numbers and trying to sort them out so they would make wheels worth points,' Charles explains to News 8's Mikhaela Singleton.
Solving problems that might make your head spin and doing it with ease, the boys had to fill a grid board with cards that each had a number at each corner. Lining up a square of cards creates a wheel with one set of numbers in the middle and the team earns points for whatever factor all the numbers have in common.
All say they were nervous after passing the semi-finals and moving on to the final stage where they had to explain their mathematics concepts to judges from around New York. When the time came for the awards ceremony, they were plenty thrilled to take the second place medals.
'We hear something with 'east', and we are like that's us, we made it, and then we just got so excited,' says Matthew.
'I remember running up to the stage and it was so funny, because when all of us were on the stage we were like, yay we're on the stage!' says Daniel excitedly.
They're still holding out for gold next year, hoping to keep their team of three musketeers together, and there's even an encouraging message for their future friendly competition.
'It's really fun and you would probably like it and even if you lose, you are still proud because you still tried your best,' Daniel says.
To top it all off and now that they've returned, the East Rochester Union Free School District honored all three boys at this week's school board meeting. Board members presented the boys with recognition of achievement certificates and trophies to celebrate their hard work.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
