16 students make State, 2 students make Nationals!

In February-March, the best students across the USA competed in MathCounts – the most important math competition for middle schools. In MathCounts, students in Grade 6-8 compete in the same division and so the older students have a big advantage. It is particularly hard for the 6^th graders to do well. The MathCounts competition consists of three rounds.

In the Chapter round, the best students from various schools compete against the others from their region. The top students from each Chapter make it to the State round. Out of the 32 Mr. Math students who participated in the Chapter round, 16 made the State round! Seven of those students are 6^th graders, seven are 7^th graders, and two are 8^th graders. These students are (grade in parenthesis): Arjun W (7), Charlotte O (7), Daniel G (6), Drake R (6), Ethan J (7), Isaac C-O (6), Keiran P (7), Ken W (7), Leo R (6), Max Z (8), Patrick C (6), Puranjay M (6), Samuel H (7), Siri C (8), Tara P (6), and Yuvraj C (7).

In the State round, the top students in each State compete for the few coveted spaces in the National round. Only 4 best students from each State are invited. Two of our students made the National round and two others finished in the Top-10 in their States. This is amazing given that most of our students are young!

Samuel H, competing in his second MathCounts, repeated as the winner in the state of Kentucky and will again lead the Kentucky State team in the National round in Orlando, FL in May. Making Nationals is a dream for every young mathlete. It is especially unique for Samuel, who has a very real chance to be in an elite group of “three-timers” – students who make MathCounts Nationals in 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade.

Puranjay M, competing in his first MathCounts as a 6^th grader, finished 4^th in the state of Arizona. He joins a small group of 6^th graders who will compete in the Nationals. With hard work and dedication, Puranjay has a chance to join Samuel as a “three-timer”.

Maz Z, competing in his third and final MathCounts, finished 5^th in Illinois. Max actually tied the 4^th place score and lost on a tiebreaker. This is an exceptional accomplishment given that Illinois is a very competitive state with a large number of brilliant students. This completes a terrific MathCounts trilogy during which Max finished 23^rd as a 6^th grader and 12^th as a 7^th grader.

Isaac C-O, competing in his first MathCounts as a 6^th grader, finished 7^th in Illinois, by far the best results for a 6^th grader in Illinois. With another year of learning and practicing, we fully expect Isaac to be among the favorites in the next year’s State MathCounts.

I invite everyone to join me in congratulating these amazing students and celebrating their accomplishments!!! They worked very hard for many years and fully deserve their success.