This past weekend, for the sixth year in a row, Carroll College hosted the Montana Math Modeling Challenge (MMMC). The MMMC is a 24-hour regional modeling contest for undergraduate students. Teams are presented with two open ended, real world problems and have one day to choose and solve one of them using any resources they can find except for other people. (This is similar style of competition on a regional level as the international mathematical contest that a Carroll team placed within the top seven percent worldwide this past spring.)
This year's contest included 13 teams of two to three undergraduates each, representing four schools from three different states – Carroll, MSU, Washington State and University of Idaho.
"It's fantastic to see young mathematicians come from all over the region to do math, write code, build models, and get to know each other," said co-organizer Carroll associate professor of math Dr. Eric Sullivan
Carroll students had this to share about the competition:
“When we first started it felt like an impossible task. Then we would set little goals and just keep pushing ourselves again and again as we near one goal. Before we knew it was 9:30 am and everything was done a half hour early! ... Every student should try this competition at least once, even if they are not that into mathematics, they can contribute creativity and differing viewpoints to create a truly amazing project that could potentially solve a real world problem.” ~ sophomore Kira Kuhlman, Helena, MT
"The MMMC is an amazing opportunity for Carroll students to apply their mathematical skills to potential real life scenarios. The MMMC is very fun, and it tests the limits of students’ abilities (mostly the ability to think with a brain at 4 am)." ~ junior Keaton Blair, Bainbridge Island, WA
"It's a real test of your knowledge when you can't ask anybody for help except for your teammates. It's awesome to see our team's results at the end and know that it's completely ours." ~ sophomore Johnny Carstens, Boring, OR
"It was really great to meet nerdy minds from other schools, and discuss math with them." ~ senior Matt Smillie, Helena, MT
This event is just one of many excellent opportunities to showcase the types of problems Carroll students are able to help solve through a combination of math, statistics, computing and data science. It is an extension of our Math in the Mountains course in which Carroll students work with non-profits, businesses and government entities in town to use real world applications to solve a business problem.
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 | Student and faculty participants in the 2019 Montana Math Modeling Challenge.
Still awake and smiling after 24+ hours of math! |
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Today, Carroll College is being awarded the Skin Smart Campus Platinum Award by the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention during the Council’s fall conference in Washington, DC. The award recognizes Carroll’s commitment to ensuring the well-being of our students by providing a safe, healthy learning and living environment on and off campus. Carroll pledges to keep indoor tanning devices off of our campus and out of our affiliated buildings. We also promote skin cancer prevention and sun safety education.
Carroll students Courtney Schroeder and Karissa Dykstra worked hard on the initiative this fall, ensuring Carroll achieved the various criteria for the award.
“We are ensuring the well-being of Carroll’s students by providing education to live a safe and healthy lifestyle. Skin health is an area often times missed across college campuses,” shared Courtney.
Karissa added, “Pledging to keep indoor tanning devices off our campus is just another way to keep all students safe. Ultimately, we want to see Carroll support annual skin checks, educational events, and other prevention measures.”
Read more here. |
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 | | Courtney Schroeder, Professor Kelly Parsley, Karissa Dykstra and President Cech |
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| TALKING SAINTS TRAVEL OVER THE BORDER |
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Congratulations to the Talking Saints, who won awards in two countries over the October 19-20 weekend.
The new team members advanced two teams to the championship rounds at the University of Calgary Fall Open in Calgary, Alberta.
“This is such a classy event, run entirely for the benefit of first-year college students,” said coach Brent Northup. “The team got to see a bit of Calgary, meet students from throughout Western Canada and were treated to a tournament-ending banquet. To do well was frosting. The Canadians love that Carroll attends, and they welcome us so warmly.”
Meanwhile, 1,000 miles south at the University of Denver, the upperclass Carroll teams competed in the Rocky Mountain Championships, winning three awards.
“This event has national-level teams, so it’s a challenging weekend,” said Northup. “Josh (Mansfield) and Kelsie (Watkins) were ranked second after prelims, and were in contention to win the whole affair. Alas, a Regis team kept the trophy in Denver.”
Read the full release here. |
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 | Photos left to right - Calgary tournament: L to R front – Roisin O'Neill, Chief adjudicator Candace Cho and her pup, and Hellie Badaruddin. L to R back – Brady Clark and Stefan Fiandeiro
Denver tournament: Josh Mansfield and Kelsie Watkins |
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