March 29, 2013 at 4:46 p.m.
Rhinelander High School students to participate in Trig Star Program Contest
Rhinelander High School students to participate in Trig Star Program Contest
"The Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors, the National Society of Professional Surveyors, and the Northern Lights Chapter, the local group of surveyors, sponsor this exam," said Jones. "It is a statewide exam that is taken by juniors and seniors across the state, in trigonometry and geometry as it relates to land surveying."
In addition to furthering the students' educational opportunities, Jones said this is a great chance for the students to be recognized for their work.
"It's a chance for you guys to show what you know," said Jones. "It honors high school math students, and it gets you acquainted with the principles of trigonometry."
Jones gave the students a brief history of surveying as well as a description of what land surveyors do, telling them, "Basically it's staking out and laying out roads, property boundaries and bridges, that's what surveyors do."
After giving students some background information on surveying, he gave them all the information they needed about the upcoming Trig Star exam.
The exam consists of three questions with multiple parts. Each question will feature a geometric shape with some, but not all, information provided, such as side lengths or angle measurements for triangles. The students will need to solve the problem to identify unknown triangle side lengths and angles. The test has stringent guidelines for accuracy of answers, and time is also an issue. Students have an hour to complete the exam, and if multiple students finish with the same overall score, the student who finished first is determined the winner. Students will be provided all the necessary materials, including calculators, needed to complete the exam.
Jones gave the students examples of what test questions would look like and also showed a real-world application of surveying by presenting a problem that featured a road intersection that was to have a turning lane added, thus needing a surveyor to determine the property boundaries around the roads.
The Trig Star Program Contest offers prizes to the winning participants. On the local level, all participants will receive certificates, and the top three scorers will be awarded prizes of $60, $25 and $15. The top placer will also receive a plaque. Jones said he is looking to raise the prize money amounts through local donations.
After local competition has finished, the top finisher at each local competition will advance to the state level, where the prizes get bigger. The top three finishers on the state level get $500, $250 and $100, and the first place finisher also receives a three-night stay at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. The winner at the state level will also advance to nationals to compete for a $2,000 prize.
"Most of the state representatives for this exam are from Madison, Milwaukee, Sun Prairie, a lot of the bigger high schools," said Jones. "We don't do anything up here, and I think it's about time we show those guys down south how much we know up here."
The RHS students will take the exam on April 11. All testing levels for the Rhinelander students (local, state and national) will be done locally, so no traveling will be necessary for the students.
Jones is optimistic about the RHS students' chances in the program.
"This is the first chance for us to really shine up here, and I think you guys can do a great job," he said.
Jim Oxley may be reached at [email protected].
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