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April 14, 2004
IT ALL ADDS UP Isom makes Beatty High School proud
By BREANNE HUBBARD Kenneth Isom, a senior at Beatty High School, was one of those students. He received the Best Paper in School award at the University of Nevada, Reno's 48th annual Nevada Prize Examination in High School Mathematics. The test was given out March 10 at each competing school. Almost four weeks after the exams were administered, test scores were tallied and a list of winners went out to the participating schools. Out of the six students from Beatty, Isom had the highest test score. That accomplishment earned him a certificate and a $150 cash prize. This is Isom's first time taking the test. He has taken four years of mathematics already and was up to the challenge. "I like math. I thought it'd be fun." Isom didn't have much time to prepare for the big exam. "We didn't really actually have a lot of notice on it." He said the announcement came just two days before the event, but he relied on his math background to get him through. The test was roughly 80 questions that took Isom approximately two hours to finish. The first part of the test consisted of 60 multiple-choice questions, while the second part was filling in the blanks. "It was just a bunch of different level math questions," Isom said. The difficulty of the test increased as time went on. After taking the exam, Isom learned a valuable lesson. "I realized at that point how much I didn't know." Isom was surprised to find out that he won. After finishing the test, he wasn't in high spirits. He said the last 30 questions were rough. "I didn't expect that I had done that well." Although he was surprised, Isom felt other emotions in receiving the award. "It's pretty exciting, actually. Especially after taking the test and not thinking that I did well. It's really exciting," he said. Isom already has big plans for the cash that will be coming soon in the mail. "I'll probably put it towards school." Isom will attend UNLV in the fall. He will be working towards a double major in computer science and mathematics. |
