This year, Math Counts, led by Ms. Michelle McCanna, eighth grade math teacher, was held at Geneva College on February 14. This caused a major struggle due to the fact that Math Counts lacks participants in general, let alone on Valentine’s Day. There was also a major conflict with the competition and wrestling, where several students were unable to compete at Math Counts. Despite past struggles, Ms. McCanna has been taking students to Math Counts since 2013. 

Math Counts consists of four rounds, the first being the Sprint Round, in which players solve 30 problem-solving questions independently without a calculator. The second round is called the Target Round, in which players solve four sets of two word problems independently. The third round is called the Team Round, in which players work in teams of four using a calculator. This section of the competition is graded separately from the other rounds. The final round is called the Countdown Round, which determines the placings of the top ten competitors. It is a buzzer-beater round where players must answer three questions correctly to advance to the next round.

“[I enjoy Math Counts] because it is fun, competitive, we get to be around people from other schools, and it is something that students do because they want to and not because they have to,” Mrs. Michelle McCanna said.

Chase Bonaparte’s (8) first time doing Math Counts was this year. 

“[The competition went] pretty good. It was a fun experience for everybody,” Chase Bonaparte said.

Setting aside all of the conflicts interfering with this year’s Math Counts competition, Freedom managed to place second in the entire competition. Lincoln Murphy (8) got fourth place at the competition. The Freedom Math Counts team was able to power through their difficulties and achieve success.