Small town Essex County elementary school places second in worldwide competition

A grade two class at Centennial Central Public School in Comber is celebrating their recent success placing second in a global competition to define what math means to them.

The “Math Is” contest is through The Global Math Project where students, teachers and arithmetic enthusiasts everywhere find creative ways to explain what they believe math is.

“Very excited, it's awesome,” explains teacher Michelle Bussiere who signed the students up along with French teacher Nicole Mahon.

“We asked staff, we asked students all around in the community and we got some really wonderful answers,” Bussiere says the students tried to make their submissions as Canadian as possible since the effort was international. “We use it when we're skating, when we're drawing shapes in the snow, when we're measuring things we use math.”

Officials say first place went to a school in the Philippines while third place was awarded to a class in Romania. The top contenders received several hundred dollars in prize money for school supplies.

“So a little rural school in Canada got second place,” Bussiere says. “That's awesome. We're thrilled.”

Students in the Grade 2 class that placed second in The Global Math Project competition at Centennial Central Public School in Comber, Ont. on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (Courtesy Michelle Bussierr)

Principal Teresa Hoffman Sartor says making the video was a fun community effort, telling CTV News math has to be fun and engaging.

“We are very, very excited,” says Sartor. “There were a lot of children that actually went home and did the videos with their families. So it really was an all-around community effort.”

“We’re a very small school but we have a huge heart.”

Lakeshore Mayor Tom Bain believes the second place finish is monumental considering the rural town’s size compared to that of other global cities.

“It's actually unbelievable,” he says. “It's unbelievable to think that a small town the size of Comber and having a school here, that is tremendous.”

Bain recalls he began his former teacher career at the small town school before entering politics, admitting math wasn’t his strong subject.

Students in the Grade 2 class that placed second in The Global Math Project competition at Centennial Central Public School in Comber, Ont. on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (Courtesy Michelle Bussierr)

“I was a teacher for 30 years and ended up as a principal and I started my career out here at Centennial public school so makes me even more proud of what the kids have done here,” he says. “It's a great school, just a great school and I'm so proud of them.”

“It's great to know that these kids have those kinds of educational talents, and it just guarantees they're going to go somewhere in life.”

Centennial Central Public School in Comber, Ont. on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (Chris Campbell/CTV Windsor)