GM Middle School mathletes head to state competition

From left, GM mathletes Anna Solzhenitsyn, Zoe Svec, Rebecca Hollander and Hannah Fleming

On Saturday, Feb. 7,  four GM Middle School students were among 29 mathletes from five schools around the region competing in the Southeast Vermont MATHCOUNTS Chapter Competition at Windsor High School.

The Chieftains combined team score earned them First Place for the Chapter and an invitation to the State Competition at Vermont Technical College on Saturday, March 21.

Zoe Svec placed third in the individual competition and Hannah Fleming placed second in the Countdown Round.
Each competition consists of four parts. The Sprint Round has 30 questions, and students have 40 minutes to complete them. The Target Round consists of  eight questions, which are distributed to the students a pair at a time. Students have six minutes to complete each pair of problems.

The Team Round has 10 problems for the team to work on together for 20 minutes. Scores from these rounds for all team members are combined to form a team score.  The Countdown Round is an oral round in which students compete head-to-head.

MATHCOUNTS was founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and CNA Foundation.  Each year, more than 250,000 students are exposed to MATHCOUNTS materials and activities in their schools. Approximately 140,000 students from all 50 states, U.S. territories and the State and Defense Department school systems worldwide participate annually in school MATHCOUNTS competitions, with about 40,000 students participating at the chapter competitions.