June 2014

NSPE TODAY
California Student Triumphs in National Math Competition

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: RAYTHEON CHAIRMAN WILLIAM SWANSON STANDS WITH 2014 MATHCOUNTS CHAMPION SWAPNIL GARG, MATHCOUNTS BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIRMAN ROBERT S. MILLER, P.E., F.NSPE, AND MATHCOUNTS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LOU DIGIOIA.

Anxiety turned to joy as his final answer—67—was confirmed correct; eighth grader Swapnil Garg let a brief grin of relief spread across his face before shaking his opponent’s hand and accepting the MATHCOUNTS champion medal.

The 2014 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS winner prevailed over 223 other middle school students in the national finals, earning a $20,000 college scholarship and a trip to US Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. Spread over two days, the finals began with a written competition that whittled the field down to the top 12, who then engaged in a head-to-head elimination round.

Garg, of Cupertino Middle School in Sunnyvale, California, beat Kevin Liu from Carmel, Indiana, to take the title. The other semifinalists were Alan Peng from Fenton, Missouri, and Daniel Zhu from Potomac, Maryland. Runner-up Liu earned a $7,500 scholarship (as well as a $2,500 scholarship as winner of the written round) while the two semifinalists each won a $3,000 scholarship.

The California team won the team competition, comprised of Garg, Jeffrey Li from Harvest Park Middle School, Rajiv Movva from The Harker School, and Harry Wang from Raymond J. Fisher Middle School. Each won a $2,000 scholarship and a trip to Space Camp. With the competition taking place at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, the California team members were invited to be grand marshals in the May 10 “Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade.”

Maryland placed second and Virginia placed third in the team competition.

Over 100,000 students from 5,000 schools compete in local MATHCOUNTS events, with winners advancing to the national championship. The MATHCOUNTS Foundation was established by NSPE, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and the CNA Foundation in 1983.

2014 Math Video Challenge
Team Get ‘M from Atlanta won the video challenge with “We’re Rich,” which determined the percentage of taxes paid when three teachers each received $53 million on a $234 million lottery win. The team consisted of Matthew Meadows, Garrett Minor, Erick Patterson, and Terrell Prince, all eighth graders from The Ron Clark Academy.

The challenge tasks students with making a video that solves a problem from the MATHCOUNTS handbook. The videos are posted online for public voting and the top 100 advance to a judging panel that determines 20 semifinalists. Another panel then selects four finalist videos, and the 224 MATHCOUNTS competitors vote to select the winning entry. You can watch the winning video online at http://videochallenge.mathcounts.org/videos/were-rich.

Check out www.mathcounts.org for more information and free educational materials.