Participants in the first annual Eastern West Virginia MATHCOUNTS Chapter Competition pose for a photograph together in Harpers Ferry Middle School on March 2. Courtesy photo

HARPERS FERRY — On March 2, Harpers Ferry Middle School hosted the first annual Eastern West Virginia MATHCOUNTS Chapter Competition.

Seven schools registered to compete, including homeschools and public schools as far away as Keyser.

“Students have been working together in afterschool math clubs for months to prepare for this competition,” said Judy York, a local math club coach. “In addition to this, they’re encouraged to practice on their own at least 15 minutes a day to sharpen their math skills.”

MATHCOUNTS offers many free and fun math learning tools for students to choose from, including videos, games and courses on brilliant.com.

“These students have worked very hard this year,” said Keyser Middle School math coach Robert Moore. “This was our first year having a team and five of our six qualifiers were in 6th grade. The future is bright!”

In addition to meeting in after-school clubs, Shepherdstown Public Library (SPL) hosts a math club for students to join as part of its teen programing.

“I’m very excited that we’re able to be a part of the MATHCOUNTS program,” said SPL Youth Services Director Rachel Heller. “It’s been wonderful to provide a place for both homeschool and public-school students to participate and grow their math skills together.”

The Shepherdstown Middle School (SMS) Math Club took home top honors, and the Harpers Ferry Middle School (HFMS) Math Club earned second place.

Winning individual awards were:

1st Place – Cadmon Kesecker (SMS)

2nd Place – Joel Dillow (SMS)

3rd Place — Johnathan Gutzman (HFMS)

4th Place — PJ Fagan (HFMS)

5th Place – Harrison Hanna (SMS)

6th Place – Victoria Knapp (Homeschooler)

7th Place – Joel Cortez (SMS)

8th Place – Ethan Doebler (HFMS)

9th Place – Gabrielle Chaing Hernandez (HFMS)

10th Place – Anderson Didion (SMS)

Each of these students, along with Alexander Mancillas (HFMS) and Isabella Bayles (SMS), will advance to the West Virginia State MATHCOUNTS Competition in Flatwoods on March 16. These teams also participated in the MATHCOUNTS Engineering Week last week earning Future Engineer recognitions for their work in areas such as Hydraulic, Packaging and Software Engineering.

Volunteers from the Jefferson High School Science National Honor Society helped set up the after party and tackled the very difficult and complex work of scoring the competition.

“These high schoolers showed excellent leadership skills and their eager energy was invaluable to the success of our scoring efforts!” said local math coach Kathy Buchanan.

Andi Davis, the Eastern West Virginia Chapter Coordinator, was inspired by the dedication and participation of the students.

“It’s truly impressive what was achieved with the efforts of the mathletes, coaches and volunteers,” Davis said. “I’m excited about building on this success and increasing program participation in other area middle schools and homeschool groups.”

MATHCOUNTS is a nationwide middle school math program funded by organizations such as the Depart of Defense, the National Society of Professional Engineers and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.