The Kennedy Junior High Math Team took first place in the state MATHCOUNTS competition on March 8 and two Kennedy students will head to the national competition in May.
The two students, Nicky Sun and Allen Chen, will advance as part of the Illinois team to the national competition May 8-11 in Orlando. They qualified by scoring in the top four on individual written rounds.
The Kennedy team captured First Place out of 62 schools in the state contest, besting Whitney Young Academic Center (2nd) and University of Chicago Lab School (3rd).
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The team was made up of four students: Allen Chen, Nicky Sun, Melissa Mu and Howie Guo and alternate Albert Lu. In addition, the school brought two individual competitors: Karen Ge and Jason Xia. The group competed as individuals against 270 students from across the state. The individual places are as follows:
- 1st Nicky Sun
- 3rd Allen Chen
- 5th Melissa Mu
- 6th Karen Ge
- 7th (tie) Albert Lu
- 15th Jason Xia
- 17th Howie Go
The two national contenders will join two others students – one from Daniel Wright Jr. High School and the other from the U of C Lab School – to represent Illinois. The coach of the Kennedy team and the state team is Kennedy teacher Suzanne Croco.
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MATHCOUNTS is the most prestigious math competition for middle school students. During the contests, students engage in exciting, "bee-style" competitions testing his or her meddle on difficult math problems and concepts. The goal of the program is to inspire students in the fields of mathematics.
Source: District 203 press release
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