This year, the Math 24 competition was held at Penn State Beaver on Tuesday, March 10. Two Freedom students placed at the competition, including Ayden Yeskovich (7), who placed second in his division, and John Rywolt (5), who placed first in his division. Several other students made the semi-final round.

Math 24 is a game in which students race to solve a card consisting of four numbers. Using these four numbers, you must add, subtract, multiply, and divide to get a total of 24 using every number only once.

The Math 24 competition consists of four rounds. In the first two rounds, all students who attended the competition compete and try to gather as many points as they can. In the third round, known as the semi-final round, the top 16 highest scoring students from each division compete against each other, where four students are seated at each table. In the fourth round, known as the finals round, the winners of each of the four tables compete against each other, leaving only four students remaining. In this round, students gather as many points as they can to determine first through fourth place.

Ms. Michelle McCanna and Ms. Sara Miller lead the Math 24 club. Ms. McCanna has been taking students to the Math 24 competition for about five years, while Ms. Miller has been taking students since 2008.

“Study habits, number set skills, and friendly academic competition [can be learned from Math 24,] Ms. Michelle McCanna, Math 24 club leader, said. 

“[I like Math 24] because I’m good at it, you get pizza, and it is a fun game to play,” Ayden Yeskovich (7) said. “I learned how to solve math problems faster.”

Math 24 has opened up an opportunity for students to find a passion for math. It has helped develop people’s creative thinking and ability to work with numbers, and helped make students eager to learn.

“I enjoy [Math 24] because of how much the students enjoy it. So that has brought a joy to me by seeing how much joy it brings to them,” Ms. McCanna said.