The Event Includes 224 Middle School Competitors From All 50 States
Lou DiGioia, Executive Director, MATHCOUNTS
(Washington, D.C., Thursday May 5, 2016) – Students from across the country will be squaring off at the Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition in Washington D.C. on May 8 and 9, the 33rd year of the event.
The event includes 224 middle school competitors from all 50 states in a heart-pounding competition that plays like a cross between Jeopardy and a spelling bee. Over 100,000 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders took part in qualifying rounds at the school, local and state levels to reach the finals.
Lou DiGioia, executive director of the event, took part in MATHCOUNTS himself when he was in middle school and knows firsthand how exciting it is to take part in the competition.
SOUNDBITE #1:
THIS COMPETITION CELEBRATES EXCEPTIONALLY BRIGHT YOUNG PEOPLE WHO WILL BECOME THE INNOVATORS OF TOMORROW. THESE STUDENTS SPEND HOURS EVERY WEEK GOING TO MATH PRACTICES. THEY HAVE MADE A COMMITMENT TO THE SUBJECT AND THEY WANT TO BE THE BEST THEY CAN. IT IS SUCH AN INCREDIBLE ACHIEVEMENT, AND OUR GOAL IS TO MAKE THEM FEEL LIKE THE WINNERS THEY ARE.
SOUNDBITE #2:
WE ARE PROUD TO SUPPORT THESE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO HAVE SUCH ENTHUSIASM FOR MATH. US INDUSTRIES FACE A CRITICAL NEED FOR EMPLOYEES WITH ADVANCED MATH ABILITIES. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE SET THEM ON A COURSE THAT WILL LEAD THEM INTO JOBS THAT WILL KEEP AMERICA GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE.
Local Student Competitors:
ALABAMA: Eileen Liu, Haoze Tang, Courtney Flurry and Lawrence Zhang
ARIZONA: Caleb Brakensiek, Kishore Rajesh, Gordon He and Akash Anickode
CALIFORNIA: Brent Liu, Nevin Liang, Ishika Shah and Wentinn Liao
COLORADO: Rahul Thomas, Edward Lim, Austen Mazenko and Anudeep Golla
FLORIDA: Jeffrey Lu, Esha Ranade, Yuru Niu and William Li
GEORGIA: Holden Watson, Anup Bottu, Jonathan Fang and Lawrence Zhou
INDIANA: Adam Earnst, Iris Yan, Jenny Zhao and Brian Liu
KENTUCKY: Lohith Tummala, Karthik Jetty, Lilly Gonzalez and Raymond Suo
MARYLAND: Eva Quittman, Daniel Yuan, Ambrose Yang and Dakota Ebersold
MASSACHUSETTS: Benjamin Epstein, Angelina Zhang, Srinivasan Sathiamurthy and Janabel Xia
NEW MEXICO: John Cooper, David Feng, James Camacho and Joseph Camacho
OHIO: Sruthi Parthasarathi, Alex Wang, Soham Konar and Rishi Verma
RHODE ISLAND: Brant Wei, Brandon Zhang, Eric Song and Daniel Shimberg
TEXAS: Luke Robitaille, Benjamin Wright, Andrew Cai and Justin Yu
UTAH: Ilha Hwang, David Ban, Tarun Kumar Martheswaran and Grant Daniels
VIRGINIA: Neeyanth Kopparapu, Benjamin Kang, Saketh Gabbita and Alex Chung
WASHINGTON: Alex Wei, George Lan, Axel Li and Edward Wan
WASHINGTON D.C.: David Hla, Nolan Musslewhite, Mark MacGuidwin and Etan Basser