Math Counts Competition

By: Casey Robinson on Feb 7, 2023 | Categories: General, Academic

On February 4, 2023 the MathCounts team made up of four eighth graders went to The Hammonds School in Columbia, SC to compete in the Columbia Chapter Annual Competition. The Camden Military MathCounts team was manned by Long Phan (C), Ayden Puri (B), Ethan Turner (B) and Aaron Zhu (B/S). They were coached by Capt. Vicky Earle. This is the first year Camden Military has participated in the event.

The MathCounts program is a national competition of 6th through 8th graders to build their math skills. It is sponsored by Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman Foundation, National Society of Professional Engineers, Texas Instruments, 3M, CNA Insurance and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The Hammonds School hosted this year’s event.

There are four events the students go through to determine team winners and individual winners. The Sprint Round consists of 30 problems to complete in 40 minutes. The Target Round has 8 complex word problems to solve in 40 minutes. Both of these rounds are done individually. The third round is the Team Round where the four members work together to solve 10 problems in 30 minutes. Once that is completed, the top 16 individual competitors go through an exciting round-robin questions session. To advance to the next round, the students have to win the best out of three problems. This continues until the final winner is obtained.

Aaron Zhu of Band and Staff Company was in the top 16. He then advanced through the first round soundly. He lost out in the second round, however, with his other scores, Aaron placed third in the individual scores. This allows him to advance to the SC MathCounts Competition on March 4, 2023 at Chapin Middle School in Chapin, SC. Zhu won a nice trophy for his accomplishments. All participants were given a certificate of accomplishment for participating in the event. Capt. Earle received a plaque for coaching the team. Camden Military Academy was awarded a year subscription to Oplet, a math resource that allows teachers to create personalized worksheets, quizzes, flashcards, Problems-of-the-day, and tailor resources based on difficulty, topic, and problem type. This is nearly a $300 award.

Cadet Zhu has already started preparing for his next competition in March. We wish him much success as he goes forward, and thank him for representing Camden Military so well.

- Vicki Earle (Instructor)