Written by Alysha Seng, Estelle Ooh (Class of 2028), Hannah Cheng, Cynthia So (Class of 2027)
Photos by Ms. Wang and Ms. Cai

MathCounts is a national math competition for 6th to 8th grade students, consisting of four levels—the school round, the chapter round, the state round, and the national round. In every round, there are three different tests examining the participants’ speed, accuracy, and teamwork skills. A head-to-toe-countdown round will leave the top 8 individuals to compete against one another in the end, and the winners will successfully ascend to the next stage. 

Preparation for the competition started early in the school year, as teachers and peer tutors held after-school sessions for the participants. Every week, they gathered to review and learn new math concepts.

In late January, the IGDVS MathCounts School Competition officially commenced. The fourteen 6-8th graders put their algebra and geometry knowledge to the test, as they tried their best to solve complex questions with high accuracy. The school round consisted of the Sprint Round, Target Round, and Team Round.

After the school competition, eight finalists were selected to represent IGDVS at the Chapter Round in Santa Rosa, CA: Sophia Heimberg, Xinwen Zhang (Class of 2029), Estelle Ooh, Alysha Seng, Utpala Stanton (Class of 2028), Selene Luong, Cynthia So, and Hannah Cheng (Class of 2027).

The Chapter competition also consisted of three sections: Sprint, Target, and Team. The first two, the Sprint and Target Rounds, required each participant to compete individually. As the questions gradually got more and more difficult, many participants were eliminated. Eventually, Hannah reached the semi-finals, ending up as one of the top eight individual contestants of the competition.

In the Team Round, four students formed a team. Representing IGDVS were Hannah, Selene, Estelle, and Utpala. All the teams were separated into different rooms in order to deliberate over the questions. When they finished, the points were calculated. At the awards ceremony, it was announced that the IGDVS team won second place! 

The official MathCounts season ended with a celebration that included snacks and math puzzles; everyone from the school was welcome to attend and have fun with math. 

Congratulations to our IGDVS team for winning second place, and special recognition for Hannah Cheng for becoming one of the top eight individual contestants! Special thanks to Ms. Wang and all the math teachers for their support, as well as all fourteen IGDVS contestants for their dedication and effort!