Math Showcase History
The Full Story
In 1999, Jim Cardona, a PSEG employee, came up with the idea for a Math based competition for students living in Salem County. He, along with two other employees from PSEG, started to construct what would later be the Salem County Math Challenge which was held in February 2000. They started small, inviting the top 10% of 6th grade students in Salem County to attend the event. 52 students showed up to compete for $1000 in prize money, which was provided by Island Charities. The event was held at the Salem Community College and consisted of one event, a 50 minute written test. The event was held on a Saturday and was run by a handful of PSEG employees and two school teacher-volunteers.
2001 Event
After a successful beginning, PSEG Nuclear sponsored the 2001 competition and it was renamed the PSEG Nuclear Salem County Mathematics Competition. Word of mouth spread and 107 6th grade students attended the 2001 event held at the Salem High School. About 10 people volunteer to run the event.
2002 Event
2002 brought an increase in size to the PSEG Nuclear Salem County Mathematics Competition as the event was expanded to include both 6th and 8th grades. About 145 students attended. The event was again held at the Salem High School and consisted of two separate 50-minute written tests, one per grade level. Prize money provided by PSEG Nuclear was increased to almost $2000.
2003 Event
The 2003 PSEG Nuclear Salem County Mathematics Competition was again held at the Salem High School and 187 6th and 8th grade students attended.
2004 Events
The 2004 PSEG Nuclear Salem County Mathematics Competition was held at the Pennsville High School and featured a new grade level and a new event. About 228 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students attended. The 6th and 8th grade students took a 50-minute written test and 3 separate groupings of 7th graders competed in a Jeopardy style event. Prize money was increased to almost $3000. This event continued to be held on Saturday and was run mostly by employees of PSEG.
In 2004, the Salem County 2000 Math and Science League developed a new competition called the Salem County Math Showcase. The event featured 2 competitions per grade level and was open to 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades for a total of 10 separate events. 181 students attended this inaugural event, held at Salem Community College. 4th grade events were ‘Nuff for Nerf and Young Consumers. 5th grade events included Decimated Fractions and Mini-Society. 6th grade events were Estimania and You Can Get There From Here. 7th grade events included Making Weight and Radical Probabilities. 8th grade events were If You Build It… and Let It Fly. This event was held during the school day and run by school teachers and administrators.
2005 Events
The 2005 PSEG Nuclear Salem County Mathematics Competition was again held at the Pennsville High School and 217 6th 7th and 8th grade students attended.
The Salem County Math Showcase was again held at Salem Community College in 2005. 241 students attended.
2006 Events
In 2006, Employees from PSEG Nuclear joined with the Salem County 2000 Math and Science League to organize a new, larger event renaming it the PSEG Nuclear Salem County Math Showcase. Both events merged to create one new, better event.
The new combined showcase featured 3 events per grade level in addition to a written test for the 6th and 8th grades for a total of 17 events. The new showcase lasted the entire school day and 438 students attend from all grade levels from 4th to 8th grades. Total prize money was over $3500.
The events included all of the previous events from both individual competitions. 4th grade events were ‘Nuff for Nerf, Young Consumers and Jeopardy. 5th grade events included Decimated Fractions, Mini-Society and Jeopardy. 6th grade events were Estimania, You Can Get There From Here, a written test and Jeopardy. 7th grade events included Making Weight, Radical Probabilities and Jeopardy. 8th grade events were If You Build It…, Let It Fly, a written test and Jeopardy.
This event was held during the school day and run by about 20 school teachers and administrators and approximately 25 PSEG Nuclear employees.
2007 to Present
The PSEG Nuclear Salem County Math Showcase continues to be held at Salem Community College and features the same or similar events as 2006. The showcase lasts the entire school day and typically nearly 400-475 students attend from all grade levels from 4th to 8th grades.