What is MATHCOUNTS?

MATHCOUNTS is a motivating and rewarding national mathcoaching and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement through grassroots involvement in every U.S. state and territory. In Florida, participating middle schools compete individually or as part of a team in one of nineteen FES Chapter MATHCOUNTS competitions held in February. FES Chapters in turn send their winning teams and individuals to the state competition held in Orlando in March. "Mathletes®" compete to advance to the National MATHCOUNTS Competition, typically held in May of each year. All Mathletes® must be in the 6th, 7th, or 8th grade, and have typically been coached for several months by their middle school within their daily curriculum and/or on personal time. Each competition includes both written and oral math testing on a very high level. The Florida Engineering Society (FES) is proud to have sponsored Florida's MATHCOUNTS since it's origination in 1983.

MATHCOUNTS attracts students with an interest in high-tech and engineering fields. In a survey of past state competitors the top three chosen college majors were engineering, mathematics, and computer science. MATHCOUNTS participants are high achievers. Surveys show that nearly 45 percent of alumni report a combined SAT score of 1500 or above. For more information about MATHCOUNTS please visit www.mathcounts.org.

Florida's MATHCOUNTS

The size of the chapter competitions and state competition are steadily increasing as FES strives to make it more exciting and fun, and include greater numbers of students than the previous year. In 2008, Florida's state competition hosted more than 230 Mathletes® from around the state with over 90 coaches and assistant coaches.

The team competition combines scores achieved in three rounds of written tests which was administered by Bruce Lawson, PE, Central Florida Chapter MATHCOUNTS Representative and National MATHCOUNTS Chair. The 2008 competition produced a team of four middle school Mathletes® and their coach to represent Florida at the MATHCOUNTS National Competition in Denver, Colorado, May 8-11, 2008. The students and coach are: Anthony Grebe, Pine View Middle School, Sarasota; Michael Fang, Osceola Middle School, Ocala; Anya Katsevich, Jackson Heights Middle School, Orlando; Robert Perez, Miami Dade Home School, Miami Beach; and Coach Robert White, Jackson Heights Middle School, Orlando.

The Florida Engineering Society awarded top teams and individuals with trophies and scholarships at the state competition, and will send the top four on an all-expense-paid trip to participate in the national competition. This winning state team will also participate in a FES-sponsored retreat in preparation for the national event.

MATHLETES:
Our Future Professional Engineers

Special guest speaker from Lockheed Martin, Jeff Pridmore spoke with a crowd of over 500 participants, parents, guests, volunteers and engineers. Mr. Pridmore gave an inspiring talk to MATHLETES encouraging them to make Engineering their career of choice and highlighted the various fields of engineering. After a brief video highlighting technology and how Engineers “Make it Happen”, he was asked questions by MATHLETES in the crowd and many were inspired by Lockheed Martin’s cutting edge technology.

SPONSORS

Sponsors are vital to Florida's MATHCOUNTS program. FES would like to thank its 2008 Florida MATHCOUNTS sponsors: Florida Engineering Foundation, Shell Oil Company, Lockheed Martin, PBS&J, Publix Super Markets Charities, Collinsworth, Alter, and A/E ProNet, Gulf Power Foundation, Wilson Miller, Miller Legg, Figg Engineering Group, Peoples First Community Bank and Hilton Orlando/Altamonte Springs.

The Florida Engineering Society would like to express their gratitude to Susan Mah of Orlando for the design used for this year’s program and tee shirts. A special thank you also to Carole Forrest, Central Florida MATHCOUNTS Committee, for her assistance to FES staff, and to Glenn Forrest, PE and Howard Ludwig, Lockheed Martin, for generously sharing their time and mathematical abilities to generating challenging ciphering problems for both the chapter and state competitions.

Florida's Volunteers

Co-chairmen Scott Johnson, PE, Northeast Florida Chapter and Andrea Martinez, PE, Central Florida Chapter led a team of over 60 volunteers hosting the state competition. The "calculating wizards" in the scoring room, facilitated by Lawrence Lewis, PE of the Central Florida Chapter, produced accurate and timely results. Jean Spiwak, teacher of James Weldon Johnson Middle School, Northeast Florida Chapter, led activities of the Alternate Testing Room and Carole Forrest from the Central Florida Chapter hosted the coaches' room. MATHCOUNTS substantial volunteer network composed of Professional Engineers, teachers, engineering students, math students, corporate volunteers, and alumni use the MATHCOUNTS program throughout the school year to foster students' creativity and self-confidence. Without the time, energy, and enthusiasm of these outstanding volunteers, MATHCOUNTS would not be as enriching or as expansive as it has become.

Why MATHCOUNTS Works

MATHCOUNTS works because it:

Motivates and rewards students by fostering team problem solving and competitive spirit;
Is more than a competition. It involves students and teachers in year long coaching sessions and helps students at varied skill levels;
Builds math skills, promotes strategic problem solving and challenges students to sharpen their analytical abilities;
Gives America's sixth, seventh and eighth grade math teachers incentive to excel in the classroom and provides state of the art materials to enhance education in the classroom;
Stimulates student interest in math by introducing students to math related careers through contacts with engineers and other program volunteers;
Is educator-driven. Materials and activities are structured to meet student needs identified by educators and are written each year by members of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in keeping with the NCTM curriculum standards.

For additional information on the MATHCOUNTS program, call the Florida Engineering Society at 850-224-7121.

National MATHCOUNTS Registration and Information