Polk County Public Schools
Lakeland’s Lawton Chiles Middle excelled in several high-level mathematics and science events at the state and national level in 2009-2010.
The school competed in the 2010 Florida Mathematics League event and had top finishes both regionally and statewide. The Mathematics League event tests schools on questions covering a range of mathematical knowledge for each grade level. Click here to view further information on The Mathematics League.
Chiles’ sixth grade team tied for 21st place among 68 schools statewide and was second among four teams in a region that included Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, Martin, Pinellas and Polk counties.
Chiles’ seventh grade team was 8th of 58 schools statewide and second among four schools regionally. Abhinav Venigalla won first place in the state individual and regional competition for seventh graders.
Chiles’ eighth grade team tied for 13th in the state among 56 schools and was tied for second among four schools regionally. Addison Taylor tied for 16th in the state individually and was first in the region among eighth graders.
Lawton Chiles teacher Donna Jones is the school’s Mathematics League advisor.
Chiles’ MATHCOUNTS team placed eighth statewide of 50 schools competing at the state finals.
MATHCOUNTS is a national mathematics competition for middle school students. It promotes student interest in math by making it as challenging, exciting and prestigious as a school sport. Click here for more information on MATHCOUNTS.
Abhinav Vengalla was 13th in the individual competition among more than 200 students. Dhaval Jivanji was 49th overall individually. Chiles’ team members were Jivanji, Addison Taylor, Vengalla and Peter Yao.
Lawton Chiles’ MATHCOUNTS advisor is Michelle DiGioia.
Lawton Chiles Middle won $30,000 and the grand prize in a national environmental contest sponsored by the Scholastic, Inc. and Lexus automotive companies.
A team of Lawton Chiles students won the grand prize in the Lexus Eco Challenge, a program of the Lexus Pursuit of Potential, one of the company’s philanthropic initiatives.
In the contest, schools defined an environmental issue important to them, developed an action plan to address the issue, implemented the plan and reported the results.
Lawton Chiles’ “Green Team” addressed the problem of pet waste contaminants affecting water quality and aquatic life. They organized a “Lake Clean-Up Day” and educated the community about the environmental dangers of pet waste through guest speakers and published literature. They installed a pet station at Lakeland’s Lake Wire to encourage pet owners to clean up after their pets. The team also donated disposable pet waste bags and conducted water quality tests to measure oxygen levels affecting freshwater fish, underwater plant life and wildlife near the lake.
“Green Team” members were Nick Curtis, Jose Alvarez-Flores, Nadia Mir, James Mondale and Corey Smith. They were all eighth graders in 2009-2010. They each received $4,000, Their advisor, teacher Debbie Viertel, received $3,000 and the school received $7,000. The students, Debbie Viertel and the school also received cash prizes in preliminary stages in the contest before eventually being named one of two grand prize winners. The other grand prize winning school was from Illinois.
Click here to read more information on their award.
