Steven Davis was the winner of the tri-state math compeitition and holds his trophy from the event here. He is the son of Jim and Debbie Davis of Troy. Photo by Beth Lakey,

Davis wins tri-state math competition

By BETH LAKEY

Staff Writer

March 27, 2000 10 PM

While most area school children were having fun on Spring Break, some Charles Henderson Middle School students were doing math problems and one of those came home with a large trophy.

On March 20, 12 students and math coaches Mabeth Gibson and Dave Laliberte traveled to Dothan for the 20th Annual Wallace Community College Tri-State Math and Computer Science Olympiad.

And, for the first time in the 15 years CHHS has competed, one of them came home with first place honors in the pre-algebra competition.

Steven Davis was that individual.

"I have been joking to that tournament on and off for over 15 years and I’ve never had a first place in pre-algebra until this year," Gibson said.

"It is a very difficult tournament because you’ve got so many schools and students competing," Gibson said.

Approximately 2,000 students from 67 public and private schools in South Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and Southwestern Georgia competed in the math olympiad.

But, Davis was the only one from Charles Henderson Middle School to place in the competition.

The other seventh graders competing in pre-algebra were: Jennifer Floyd, Ashley Kreis, Stephanie Carroll, Nicole Johnson and Jordan Barnett. Eighth graders Jenny Laliberte, Will Fuller, Ben Faulkinberry, Winnie Song, Haley Flowers and Brian Reynolds competed in the area of Algebra I.

Gibson said she was proud of all the students and hopes they will do well at other math competitions in which the school plans to participate.

Davis’ enjoyment of math showed during the competition, Gibson said of her student.

Although Davis said it was "pretty tough," he was pretty sure of himself, Gibson said.

"Steven’s very good at critical thinking," the math teacher said. "He used his reasoning and comes up with a good answer."

It is that ability to reason that likely draws the seventh grade student to science and math, but his likes don’t stop there.

Davis is on the CHMS soccer team and plays French horn in the band.

When he’s not at school, the son of Jim and Debbie Davis enjoys hiking.