Math Counts at MATHCOUNTS

Annual Competition for Middle Schoolers at Lyndon State

February 18, 2014

The Northeast Vermont Chapter of MATHCOUNTS held its annual competition at Lyndon State College on February 15 with middle school students participating from five area schools. The students competed individually and in teams. The winning team was from U-32 coached by Mary Ellen Simmons and Kate McCann. The Thaddeus Stevens School team took second place with Jon Snyder as coach. Bronze went to St. Paul’s Catholic School, coached by Madalyn Ledoux.

Brian Lamar from Thaddeus Stevens took first place in the individual competition and in the “countdown” round. The countdown round is an exciting event where audience members can see the questions as two students race each other – – and a 45-second timer – – to answer math questions with only pencil, paper, and brain power. The second place countdown trophy went to Noah Witke from U-32. Other students participating in the countdown round were: Sam Darmstadt (U-32), Mason Castle (Thaddeus Stevens), Jerico Ladd (St Paul’s), Frances Kaplan (U-32), Ryan Montgomery (Danville with coach Tiffany Santy), Parker Morse (U-32), Alesis Degreenia (Miller’s Run with coaches Ham and Blodgett), Brandon Brunnell (Miller’s Run), and Benjamin Bangs (Thaddeus Stevens).

The top two teams will go to the state competition at Vermont Technical College on March 29. The other students participating in the countdown round will also be invited to the state competition based on their winning individual scores.

The local MATHCOUNTS competition couldn’t happen without the combined efforts of many people. The coaches work with their students all year long to prepare. On the day of the competition, parents, teachers, former competitors, and coaches pitch in to help coordinator Daisy McCoy, a math professor at Lyndon State College, run the event.