The MathCounts team from the Center for Teaching and Learning in Edgecomb placed first in the regional competition on Saturday, Feb. 1. The regional event was held at Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield. This year’s team included Octavia Aurora and Fina Record from grade eight, and Charlie Record and Adeline Inman from grade six. Their coach, Nick Record, is in his third year with the team, which meets once a week as an afterschool club at CTL.

MathCounts is a national non-profit promoting mathematics and problem solving. Hundreds of thousands of middle school students throughout the US participate each year. The organization encourages students to love math and develop resilience, using problem-solving questions to help middle school kids “embrace challenges and expand their academic and career opportunities in the future.” (www.mathcounts.org)

At the regional level, students participate in four rounds of competition during the day-long experience. There are two individual written exams, one in which a calculator can be used and one without calculators. Then there is a team round, where four students work together to solve ten problems in twenty minutes. Finally, the top ten competitors participate in a countdown round, where they battle game show-style, head to head, using buzzers.

On Saturday afternoon, after the countdown round was complete, Octavia Aurora came out on top in first place and Fina Record took fourth place. Adeline Inman ranked eleventh and Charlie Record ranked fifteenth. All four students will participate as both individuals and as a team at the upcoming Maine state finals on March 8.