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Show Wed/Thurs/Fri, May 17-19, 2017 The Park Record A-8 Fundraising push eyes DACA Effort aims to help students apply for crucial protections By BUBBA BROWN The Park Record BUBBA BROWN/PARK RECORD (From left) Daniel Tabin, Max Askmo and Cole Lee, seniors at Park City High School, won their division in the 12th-grade State Math Contest held this spring. The students say they enjoyed working through the challenging problems the competition presents. Smarts plus passion equals win Seniors repeat as champs at state math competition By BUBBA BROWN The Park Record The questions were complicated but the result was simple: Three Park City High School students are state champion mathematicians. A team consisting of Daniel Tabin, Cole Lee and Max Askmo, seniors at Park City High School, recently found out they won the annual 12th-grade level of the State Math Contest in division 3A, which comprises teams from schools around the state similar in size to PCHS. The competition was held in March, but the results were announced earlier this month. Last year, the team finished first among 11th-graders. Melissa Perry, a PCHS math teacher, said winning in back-to-back years is particularly impressive given the difficulty of the competition, whose test is challenging enough to strain the minds of even teachers and almost impossible for high school students to get 100 percent correct. Given the success Tabin, Lee and Askmo have had in the competition the last two years, it’s clear to Perry that they are gifted in ways that most people aren’t. “There’s a certain level of skill that these winners are born with,” she said. “They have a natural problem-solving ability. We can take them as far as we can throughout their high school career, but there’s something that’s inside them that they’re determined to solve problems and not give up when things get tricky.” For their part, the students didn’t enter the competition just to win. They say they’re passionate about math and enjoy taking on a challenge that pushes them beyond their intellectual comfort zones. Nonetheless, being able to say they’re ending their high school careers as consecutive math champs has a certain ring to it. “It feels nice just to know that we’re at the top of the ladder in terms of math and being able to apply it in a test like this,” Lee said. “It seems like everyone was (gunning) for us, and it was refreshing to remind myself that we are at this high level when it comes to math.” Lars Nordfelt, another math teacher, said it’s been a pleasure to teach Tabin, Askmo and Lee, and he’s not surprised to see them have success in a statewide competition. Describing them, he said one of their strongest traits is intellectual curiosPlease see Math, A-9 Moe Hickey believes every student should be given a chance to succeed. That’s why Hickey, a former Park City school board member who is still active in education efforts, is spearheading an effort to raise $20,000 this spring to help undocumented students apply for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA, implemented under President Obama, protects children who entered the U.S. under the age of 16 from deportation and allows them to apply for work authorization, Social Security numbers and state financial aid for college. Hickey said he got the idea after several members of the community asked him what they could do to help following a series of local incidents earlier this year that shook the Latino community. The money, he added, will be raised through the Park City Education Foundation, and the effort will hopefully establish an annual tradition. “We really want it to be very grassroots,” he said. “We don’t want it to take away from anything else. We just want to say, ‘Let’s get this in place and get these kids supported just to improve their odds of success next year and the year after when they enter into college.’” The response has been tremendous.” According to school officials, DACA has proven critical to undocumented students from Park City since it began in 2012. But Hickey said the cost can be prohibitive -- there is a $495 application charge, and legal fees to help navigate the cumbersome process can run another several hundred dollars. Students who can’t afford applying for DACA miss out on the benefits it provides, which can be as simple as allowing them to get jobs to pay their way through college. Hickey is hopeful the money raised will be able to provide DACA certification for more than 20 students. “I look at those kids and the struggles their families go through and the work the kids are putting in to get to a point where they can go to Salt Lake Community College or Utah State University or wherever,” Hickey said. “But without that DACA card, so much of that falls apart. It’s not necessarily getting into college -- it’s being able to work and pay their way through college.” Eric Esquivel, the Park City School District’s Latino community outreach specialist, said the district is delighted to see the community get behind the effort. DACA, he said, can go a long way to providing a better future for the students who attain it. “It gives those students and their families a little more peace of mind,” he said. “They know there’s a program in place where they can study and go on to college in peace.” Donations can be made to the Park City Education Foundation. Hickey can be contacted for more information at mhickey@parkcityinstitute.com BUBBA BROWN/PARK RECORD Moe Hickey, a former Park City school board member, is organizing a push to raise $20,000 to help undocumented students apply for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. He says response so far to the effort, which could provide more than 20 students with benefits ranging from work authorization to protection from deportation, has been tremendous. PARK CITY BIKE MONTH COMMUNITY CELEBRATION MAY 19 BIKE TO WORK SCHOOL & PLAY DAY MAY 31 SPONSORS: PARTNERS: MOUNTAIN TRAILS MOUNTAIN MADNESS KICKOFF CELEBRATION WITH MAYOR & COUNCIL 7:30 to 9:30 am | Olympic Welcome Plaza (next to Squatters) Welcome from the mayor at 7:30. Bike to Park City Library. Support station available. BIKE TO WORK, SCHOOL & PLAY CELEBRATION 7:30 to 10:30 am Park City Library 1255 Park Ave. Pets & families welcome. Free raffles, snacks, bike safety inspection and e-bike demos. EVENING OF TRAIL TALK, MOVIES & FREE FOOD Doors open at 5:30 pm | Movie shorts begin at 7:00 pm. Doubletree by Hilton, The Yarrow | Sponsored by EpicPromise BIKE TO SCHOOL WITH PARK CITY POLICE 7:30 am | Meet at one of the following locations and bike to McPolin Elementary School with Park City Police Officers. • PC MARC • Aspen Villas Apartments • Arches Park (end of Comstock) (All four PCSD elementary schools will have Bike to School events.) Share your bike commute photos using #BikeCommutePC or #iBikePC For more information visit www.parkcity.org |