Loud silence. That’s what Larry White loves to hear. The sound of young brains, crunching numbers.
"Years ago, I was in charge of the 250 or so freshman number sense competitors at the TMSCA State meet," said White, who this fall replaced Don Skow as director of the UIL mathematics and number sense contests.
"The room was so loud with all those freshmen talking and being excited. But then it was test time. When I gave the start signal not a sound could be heard. But the amazing thing was it was the loudest quiet I had ever heard. All those amazing brains crunching the mental math problems was deafening. Oh how I love that loud silence."
White taught 26 years, mostly in West Texas, coached football, basketball, track and field and all of the UIL mathematics contests. He retired in 1997 after a long and successful career. In fact, members of his math, number sense and calculator applications teams advanced to UIL State 14 of 16 years, from 1983 -- 1998, compiling two individual and six team state championships and earning more than $150,000 in TILF scholarships. In 1991, he received one of the first UIL Sponsor Excellence Awards. An adjunct math lecturer at Angelo State University, White also develops software, operates a customized computer service and tutors via the Internet.
"Even after retirement, I continued to work on my number sense computerized program and work with kids across the state via the Internet," he said. "I loved to go to service centers, math conferences and schools to teach and work with kids, especially in the three math UIL events. I don’t know of anything more that excites me than to watch the minds of a number sense kid cranking out mental mathematics. So, when I was approached by several of my old cronies about taking the job, I didn’t have to think long.
"Besides, someone had to carry on the great tradition that Don Skow bestowed upon us over the years. The juniors and seniors this year deserved to see tests in the same style as in the past after all of the work they have done to prepare. I have known Don Skow and studied his tests for many years. I only hope that I can create tests that are even 75 percent of what his were."
As for the contests, White said he thinks number sense may be reaching its limits of change, since it is a much older contest than mathematics. "The evolving will probably take place in the varying ways old tricks can be seen. Don was the master at finding new ways to see an old trick," he said. "I hope to do that as well.
"The math test is a relatively new test compared to number sense; hence it has room for growth," he added. "One of the major things I see happening -- besides removing the ‘none of these’ answer -- is the addition of graphing calculators to the test in the near future. There are so many great questions and problem analysis that can occur with the graphing calculators. Someday, perhaps, I see removing the 40-minute time limit and giving the students at least an hour so that we can see what their truer capabilities are in mathematics."
Sounds like a lot of work for a retiree. White disagrees. "Retirement doesn’t come in to play here," he said. "Heck this ain’t work. This is a joy!"
After more than three decades of writing physics questions, speaking at countless student activities conferences and managing the State Meet science contest, Dr. Pete Antoniewicz announced last fall that he was retiring as a UIL science contest director. "After a lot of soul searching, I decided that I should pass the torch to someone new," Dr. Antoniewicz said. "I am in the process of trying to simplify things and after 30 years, it is time to let go."
His successor? Someone different, but hardly new. Dr. Lawrence Shepley, retired recently from the UTAustin Department of Physics, has been familiar with the UIL program for a long time as well. "I was involved for a year or two just before Pete Antoniewicz took over, probably in 1970 or thereabouts, but only to write questions, not in any sense as a director, as I recall," Shepley said.
And why spend part of his retirement working with the UIL? "I enjoy interacting with students, and I’ve even maintained a website (http://wwwrel.ph.utexas.edu/~larry) with a physics quiz link," he said. "I’ve also authored a pamphlet on how to study physics. From time to time students from around the world e-mail me questions about physics, and I enjoy helping them."
How does he see the science contest evolving? "One is to base the contest on specific books," Shepley said. "These books would be announced about a year in advance. For example, one could base the entire physics part on Hawking’s A Brief History of Time (and of course, on whatever references students would need to understand it and its implications). "A second idea is to have questions based on readings provided in the contest. For example, in physics, a long paragraph describing a physical situation could be included with up to 10 questions based on it. These suggestions are examples of ways the contest could evolve, to make it more interesting and varied, with other changes occurring from year to year."