Palos 118 Students Earn Top Honors at South Cook Math Bowl

Palos School District 118 took home several top awards at the 2026 South Cook Math Bowl which was held at Prairie State College.

On day one, both the fifth/sixth grade and seventh/eighth grade teams took first place with individual awards going to 6^th grader Kevin Kaufmann (First Place); 7^th grader Nathan Bhojraj (Third Place); 7^th grader Robert Fala (Fourth Place); 8^th grader Mohammad Abdelhamid (Second Place), and 8^th grader Brian Kaufmann (Fourth Place).

The fifth/sixth grade team includes Charlie O'Malley (Palos East), Olivia Scheetz (Palos West), Carol Pack (Palos South), and Kevin Kaufmann (Palos South). The team is coached by Dr. Tim Pritchard.

The Seventh/Eighth Grade Team includes Nathan Bhojraj Robert Fala, Brian Kaufmann, and Mohammad Abdelhamid. The team is coached by Dan DeWolf.

On day 2, second grader Christian Bobrowski took a first-place individual award with the first/second grade team taking fourth place overall. The third/fourth grade team placed third.

Other individual awards included first grader Ben Poore (Fourth Place); first grader Matthew Galvin (Fifth Place); third grader Vlad Burakov (Second Place), and third grader Vinny Cryns (Fifth Place).

The first/second grade team includes Matthew Galvin (Palos East), Ben Poore (Palos West), Christian Bobrowski (Palos West), and Nolan Oslawski (Palos East). The team is coached by Julie McNamara.

The third/fourth grade team includes Vinny Cryns (Palos East), Jacob Dubrowski (Palos West), Vlad Burakov (Palos West), and Carter Lester (Palos East). The team is coached by Meg Fanello.

“We could not achieve this success without the collaborative effort of the staff at all three schools,” said teacher and Math Bowl Coach Dr. Tim Pritchard, adding, “We celebrate the extraordinary achievements of our students with everyone in District 118. Go Cardinals!”

Team Photo 1: (5-8^th Grade Teams): Members of the 5th/6^th and 7^th/8^th grade teams from Palos 118 celebrate their win at the South Cook Math Bowl. The team from left to right includes Brian Kaufmann, Kevin Kaufmann, Charlie O'Malley, Robert Fala, Mohammad Abdelhamid, Nathan Bhojraj, Olivia Scheetz, and Carol Pack.

Team Photo 2: (1-4^th Grade Teams): Members of the 1^st/2^nd and 3^rd/4^th grade teams from Palos 118 celebrate their win at the South Cook Math Bowl. The team includes: (Top Row) - Mrs. McNamara and Mrs. Fanello; (Middle Row) - Jacob Dubrowski, Carter Lester and Ben Poore; (Bottom Row)-Vlad Burakov, Vinny Cryns, Nolan Oslawski, Christian Bobrowski and Matthew Galvin.

Photo: (Photo Credit: Palos 118)