SANDPOINT — While many high schoolers will run from the challenge of trigonometry, there’s at least three students at Sandpoint High School who are up for the challenge.

Josie Cox, Teagan Newsom and Brent Gronfur placed as a part of the “Trig-Star” challenge presented by the National Society of Professional Surveyors. Cox won the title of Trig-Star after completing a complicated trigonometry problem the quickest during the school competition. 

During the timed contest, students were tasked with solving a practical problem that incorporates right triangle and circle formulas as well as the laws of sines and cosines. The NSPS sponsors the annual competition in an effort to promote careers in land surveying and mapping at a local level as well as highlighting the importance of math. 

Local surveying company Glahe & Associates sponsored the SHS competition, giving students the opportunity to compete at a state level. 

As the SHS winner, Cox will be entered into the pool of state winner with the chance to become Idaho’s state representative at the National Trig-Star Competition. In that competition, Cox has the chance to earn up to $4,000 for themselves and $1,500 for their math teacher, Troy Minogue. 

The state competition comes with a $500 scholarship prize and a banner for the school from the Idaho Society of Professional Land Surveyors. Typically, higher level competitions are held in the summer when the awards committee meets to hand out the awards.