The academic success of Ladue Schools was on full display recently as students from all five elementary schools traveled to the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) for the Academic Challenge Cup Equations Tournament. Representing Conway, Old Bonhomme, Reed, Spoede, and the Fifth Grade Center, our young mathematicians spent weeks preparing for this fast-paced, complex game that challenges even the sharpest minds.

The tournament features a "game of creative mathematics" that requires students to use various operations to build mathematical expressions. While the competition is rigorous, it emphasizes the joy of improvement and the durable skills gained through their time learning, practicing, and competing in the exciting game of Equations.

The success of our Equations clubs is built on the dedication of our staff and a strong partnership with community volunteers. We are incredibly grateful to individuals like Dave Cole, who has mentored our students for over a decade, to fellow volunteers like Bev Berla, and to all of our many parent supporters. Working alongside school coaches, these volunteers donate their time each week to foster a love of math and encourage students to embrace academic challenges.

Across several days of competition, our students consistently appeared at the top of the leaderboards. These students were celebrated for their exceptional focus and quick thinking under pressure.

Congratulations to the following teams for earning top scores in their respective divisions:

• The Champion Calculators & Monkey Mathematics & We Eat Pi (Conway)
• The Dum-Dums, The Final Formulas, & The Logarithm Frogs (FGC)
• The Calculating Cats & The Marvelous Multipliers (Old Bonhomme)
• The Math Legends (Reed)
• Equation Questers, Ninja Sunrisers, & You’re Cooked like 9 to the 3rd power! (Spoede)

During the tournament, several students earned individual or team medals for being among the highest scoring individuals in their grade levels:

• Conway: Koushik Puram, Melinda Liu, Surya Sundaramoorthi, Jack Tang, Blen Tsegayge, and Hank Weitzel
• FGC: Benson Han-Walsh, Zachary Onaghise, Josiah Paik, Brennan Wendling, and Jingxi Xu
• Old Bonhomme: Christian Huiswoud, Benjamin Maher, Lucas Yao, Lucy McGee, Celine Liu, Meena Raj, and Howard Miao
• Reed: Sam Green, Teddy Haar, Harrison Clark, Benji Harris, and Tudor Vazquez Guillamet
• Spoede: William Bai,Liam Bass, Benjamin Garmaise. Luka Lataria, and Veeksha Kotagiri

In the spirit of the tournament, several teams were recognized for their unique team names and costumes:

• The Mathematical Cactus-lators (Conway)
• The Goddesses of Great Equations (Spoede)
• The Inverse Inquisitives (Spoede)

Whether competing at the third, fourth, or fifth-grade level, every student who represented Ladue Schools did so with remarkable sportsmanship and respect. Congratulations to all of our math competitors, their teachers, and sponsors for representing Ladue Schools with such character and brilliance!