Evan Lee Wins Middle School Math Bee

In front of the entire St. Margaret’s Middle School student body, grade 8 student Evan Lee took top honors at the Middle School Math Counts Competition in the Performing Arts Center last week.

With questions like “Solve [2 + 3(2) + 3^3] – 4^2,” Evan beat out 11 other Middle School students in the fast-paced, high-energy competition, winning a trophy and iTunes gift card. He will join the team representing St. Margaret’s at the regional competition next month at the University of California, Irvine.

Math Counts is a national enrichment, coaching and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement through grassroots involvement across the United States.

“Math Counts heightens student interest in mathematics by making math achievement as challenging, exciting and prestigious as a school sport,” Middle School math teacher Stephanie Windes said.

Each Middle School student at St. Margaret’s took a qualifying test in their math class in November, which was used to determine the top four in each grade level that would participate in the competition. The 12 competitors were Evan, Saurabh Mallela, Alan Wang and Surina Arora from grade 8; Dean Woods, Preston Brinker, Simone Yang and Caroline Sele from grade 7; and Hayden Mann, Kate Matthew, Andrew Miehe and Jonathan Lee from grade 6.

This was the ninth year St. Margaret’s held an all-school math bee. Mrs. Windes served as host and posed the questions to the students, and was aided by teachers Veronica Johns-Richardson, Kellie Paul and Corrine Samskey.