Middle school students compete in Mathcounts

Winning team will advance to state competition in March

More than 200 of the sharpest “Mathletes” from 25 area schools will gather Saturday to test their skills.

Middle school “Mathletes” from Chester County schools are set to compete Saturday in the local portion of the contest called Mathcounts.

The competition on Saturday, Feb. 4 will be held at the Great Valley High School at 225 Phoenixville Pike and Middle School at 255 Phoenixville Pike, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. This will be the 32nd year this competition has been held in Chester County.

More than 200 students from 25 public, private and religious schools will compete. Students will compete individually and as teams in written and fast-paced oral matches. Subjects include algebra, probability, statistics and geometry.

The “lightning round” and “countdown round” are open to the public at the high school, from noon to 12:45 p.m. One student from each school will compete head to head during the lightning round until one student wins. The top 10 students from the written tests will then compete one on one in an elimination portion in the countdown round to determine the winner. Following that, awards will be presented. Winners will advance to the Pennsylvania MathCounts state competition in Harrisburg on March 10-11.

The Tredyffrin/Easttown team advanced to the state competition last year after they placed first during the local portion. The team of students from TredyffrinEasttown Middle School finished in first place while the team from Great Valley Middle School finished in seventh place out of 25 schools. Individual students from Tredyffrin/Easttown, Great Valley and Lionville Middle Schools also competed.

MathCounts is a national program designed to improve math skills among U.S. students. More than six million students nationwide have participated in MathCounts programs, according to event organizers.

The 2017 MathCounts Competition Series will consist of approximately 40,000 students, representing more than 5,500 schools from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U. S. territories and Department of Defense and State Department affiliated schools, according to event organizers. The goal of the competition is to “increase enthusiasm for and enhance achievement in middle school mathematics throughout the United States,” according to the organization’s website.

Chester County MathCounts representatives thanked West Pharmaceuticals, Wegmans Food Markets, Walmart, Comstar Technologies, Bad Rhino and the multiple individuals for the donations that have supported the competition over the years.

For more information, visit www.ccpamathcounts. com.