Math Mastery

After months of morning and afternoon practices with advisors Catherine Lampka and Rachael Swinhoe, FWCD’s Middle School MATHCOUNTS Team tested its mathematical know-how at the virtual chapter competition. Three FWCD students competed as individuals and as a team in this year’s competition. At stake: an opportunity to attend the State MATHCOUNTS competition. Jake Hudman ’26 placed first; Andrew Lobo ’26 placed second; and Sean Hong ’27 placed 12th. Both Hudman and Lobo advanced to state, which will take place in person in Austin over spring break.

There were 75 individual competitors from the DFW area this year. While this year’s grouping was small, it was mighty. At FWCD, several fifth- and sixth-graders attended the weekly meetings/practices with future MATHCOUNTS aspirations. Fifth-graders are not allowed to compete at the chapter level, and FWCD sixth-graders were on their class trip at the same time as the competition. 

“Math Counts is a way for us to teach improved techniques for learning math,” Swinhoe said. “The challenge and uniqueness of the problems force students to use creative problem-solving and allows us to teach strategies for problem-solving that will carry over to high school and college.”

Lampka added, “The students have been practicing for the competition every week since August. They put in a lot of time and effort to be able to participate competitively at this level. Not only do they have an aptitude for math, but they exhibit a passion for it as well.

The MATHCOUNTS Competition Series is a national program that allows students to compete in live, in-person contests against and alongside their peers. Created in 1983, it is the longest-running MATHCOUNTS program and is open to all students in grades 6-8.

MATHCOUNTS piques students' interest in mathematics and builds the critical thinking and problem-solving skills necessary for success. It also teaches them to communicate their ideas to others, work as a team, and think outside of the box.

MATHCOUNTS is vital because it builds math skills, promotes logical thinking and sharpens analytical abilities. In addition, it motivates and rewards students by fostering teamwork and a competitive spirit.

The competition series has four levels of competition—school, chapter, state and national. Each level includes four rounds—Sprint, Target, Team and Countdown.  Altogether, the rounds are designed to take approximately three hours to complete. 

Below is a description of each round:

• Sprint Round: focuses on speed and accuracy. Students have 40 minutes to complete 30 math problems without a calculator.
• Target Round: focuses on problem-solving and mathematical reasoning. Students receive four pairs of problems and have six minutes to complete each pair using a calculator.
• Team Round: focuses on problem-solving and collaboration. Students have 20 minutes to complete 10 math problems using a calculator. Only the four students on a school’s team can be part of this round. In FWCD’s case this year, the team comprised three students.
• Countdown Round: focuses on speed and accuracy. Students have a maximum of 45 seconds per problem without a calculator. (This round is optional at the school, chapter and state levels.)

Up to 10 students from each school advance to the local Chapter Competition. Each school can send a team of up to four students, plus up to six individual competitors. All chapter competitors—whether a team member or individual—participate in the individual rounds of the competition; then, just the team participates in the team round. More than 500 Chapter Competitions took place in February across the country.

Top students from each Chapter Competition advance to their State Competition. The top four individual competitors from each State Competition receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the National Competition, which takes place in May. The students combine to form four-person state teams and also compete individually for the title of National Champion.

“Through participation in the MathCounts competition, students not only enhance their math skills but also boost their confidence and further develop their ability to work through challenges. With the number of fifth- and sixth-grade students participating this year, I'm excited to see how our program will advance in the years to come,” Lampka said. 

Swinhoe adds: “MathCounts has been great at building confidence in not only the students but also in myself. I love that the competitions start with easier problems and progress to more challenging questions as students become more confident in their abilities. I have found that students who participate have a growth mindset and have learned to persevere through adversity and challenges, whereas most kids would just give up at the sight of a challenging problem. We have some incredible up-and-coming mathletes here at FWCD, and I cannot wait to see how they progress over the next couple of years.”

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