ABOVE: Jacob Kastning hands in a practice Trig Star packet to have his work looked over by coach Jerry Brooks. Kastning aced his divisional competition exam in 13.5 minutes, good enough for first in the competition and a fair shot at the state championship.

FAIRMONT – With Fairmont student Sam Grogin winning the national Trig Star championship last year, Fairmont sought to uphold its winning pedigree heading into divisional competition.

Trig Star is a national competition organized by the National Society of Professional Surveyors. Students take tests assessing their Trigonometry prowess. Minnesota’s competitions are organized by the state branch, with Fairmont in the Mankato division.

Fairmont Trig Star coach Jerry Brooks said he spends a week in his pre-calc and other high-level math classes prepping students for the Trigonometry required by the competition’s exam. From there, the students take a qualifier test to see who makes it on the team.

“It prepares the kids pretty well,” Brooks said. “Those that put a little extra time into it, especially on the toughest problem on the test, got themselves the chance to win the event.”

This year, 30 students made the trip to Mankato on March 14 for the divisional competition. The team finished second behind Mankato West but featured two students who got perfect scores on the four questions.

Junior Isaiah Vaughn Jr. completed the test in 40 minutes. Sophomore Jacob Kastning completed it in 13.5 minutes, netting him first place overall. Kastning said a good chunk of time he saved came on the final question. He was able to complete it much faster than the typical 20 to 30 minutes it usually takes him.

Although it won’t be known for sure, Brooks said Kastning’s time has a solid chance of netting him first-place in the state as well.

“That’s the fastest time I’ve ever seen done on a [Trig Star] test,” Brooks said.

Instead of an additional round of competition, they compare times from all the divisional results to crown state champion.

To prepare, Kastning said he worked on several packets and even teamed with Brooks to complete an especially hard question. No student in the last 20 years had chosen to take it on and completed it, but he and Brooks did so in an hour and a half.

“It was pretty tough,” Kastning said. “In a normal test for qualifying, the time limits one hour so it wouldn’t have even counted.”

In addition to Trig Star, Kastning is on the Nationals-bound robotics team. He said Trig Star is more individualized, but both contain team spirit.

“There’s a lot more satisfaction seeing the whole team happy instead of just happy for you,” Kastning said.

As for what the students get out of it, Brooks said doing well in Trig Star can be a fast track to a successful career in surveying since the national organization puts the competition on. At its core, it builds deeper math skills.

“Advanced computational and critical analysis skills that a normal math student isn’t going to see,” Brooks said. “Since my pre-calc class has half the year devoted toward trig, it fits very naturally with what we’re doing there.”

How did Fairmont’s Trig Star program develop into the success it is today? Brooks said his students enjoy the test format and pushing themselves to the limit.

“I have quite a few students that enjoy academic competition,” he said. “The challenge of working on problems that are not ordinary book problems. It blossomed into, ‘Hey, let’s put some time towards this and try to be really good.'”

While both performed at a high level, Kastning and Vaughn Jr. acknowledged they still have room for improvement. Vaughn Jr. said he wants to improve his calculator typing speed, while Kastning listed that and his efficiency in storing values.