LEMONT FURNACE, Pa. — Approximately 60 students from six school districts in Fayette and Greene counties participated in the 2019 Mathcounts competition on Feb. 7 at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
Mathcounts is a national enrichment, club and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement through grassroots involvement in every U.S. state and territory. The annual event challenges students with various mathematical problems and equations.
The winning team was Benjamin Franklin School from Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Team members Malcolm Patton, Sydney Troup, Grant Barchek, and Riley Baker will advance to the state competition in Harrisburg this March.
The top-performing students in first, second, third and fourth places, respectively, were Malcolm Patton (Ben Franklin School), Christian DeVincent (A. J. McMullen Middle School), Ben Maxwell (Margaret Bell Miller Middle School), and Abigail Barnes (Albert Gallatin North Middle School). They also will compete in Harrisburg.
Students from Lafayette School and Mapletown Junior High School also participated in the competition.
Penn State Fayette has hosted the competition for more than 30 years, and Kevin Maxwell, mathematics instructor at the campus, has coordinated the annual event for 20 years.
"The students really seem to enjoy a day where the focus is on having fun with math,” said Maxwell. “Our campus and it’s many faculty and staff volunteers appreciate the opportunity to be a part of such a rewarding event for so many local students and their teachers.”
More information can be found at mathcounts.org.
