April 19, 2022

Twelve Decorah High School Students earned distinguished honors in the 2021 High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HiMCM). Earning a Meritorious designation and an invitation to participate in the 8^th International Mathematical Modeling Challenge (IM2C) is the team of Grace Gerleman, Lauren Johnson, Anya Lovstuen, and Ruby Sullivan. Earning a designation of Honorable Mention are the teams of Jacob Magner, Daniel Skrade, Ethan Stravers, and Max Wilson; and Justin Berlage, Peter Essa, Nathaniel Myers, and Henry Weis.

A total of 705 teams, with up to 4 students each, from 303 schools and 20 countries/regions competed in the 2021 HiMCM made possible by the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications (COMAP). All teams worked at their own schools within the contest window of November 3-16, 2021. Each high school team chose from two modeling problems offered and then constructed their solutions. The judges were impressed with all the teams’ creativity and ingenuity in mathematical modeling as well as their ability to explain their strategies and problem-solving techniques in clear terms.

COMAP commends schools for their efforts. Decorah High School had a total of 31 students participate. Earning recognition as Successful Participants include Ella Grouws, Kathryn Kelly, Sally Laybourn, Hayley Stowe, Elayna Hook, Reid Kuehner, Aidan Nalean-Carlson, Brenna Parker, Lucas Arendt, Gabriel Hiner, Simon Kutz, Anders Lovstuen, Caden Branum, Cody Carolan, Mason Cote, Nathan Swarbrick, Lange Betts, Erik Hjelle, and Haywood Stowe.

Sponsor Allysen Lovstuen remarked, “I am proud of all of the students who participated. This contest requires interdisciplinary thinking; and the students demonstrated strong problem-solving, critical thinking, research and writing skills. That we had so many students willing to take on this challenge speaks highly of them.”