Math Team Excels at State MATHCOUNTS Competition

Outfitted in “Fennonaci” branded jerseys inspired by the Fibonacci sequence, four students from Fenn’s Math Competition Team represented the School brilliantly on Saturday, March 2 at the state competition of the MATHCOUNTS® Competition Series, a national program providing middle school students the opportunity to compete in live math contests as individuals and school teams. After a rigorous day of competition, the foursome of seventh grader Nathan Xu and eighth graders Anthony Ji, Ruben Lee, and Hanwen Tang emerged as the 11th strongest math team in Massachusetts among a field of 21 exceptional teams and 130+ competitors. 

The team of Xu, Ji, Tang, and eighth grader James Beebee (who was replaced by Ruben Lee on March 2 due to illness) previously secured third place among a field of 16 schools and 150 competitors in the Metro-West Chapter Competition in February to qualify for the state competition. Eight other Fenn students also participated in the Chapter Competition, forming a team of twelve that ultimately earned Fenn the honor of having the second highest number of students place in the top 25 percent of all participants. The additional eight students were seventh graders Austin Fischl and Andrew Fugh and eighth graders Ben Gao, Ruben Lee, Yang Lu, Sean Park, Kyle Wang, and Vincent Wu.

The competitors hail from a Fenn Math Club of more than 30 students who have met weekly on Tuesday afternoons to sharpen their math skills and “train” with their classmates in grades 6-8. Math teacher George Scott is their guide, with support from Math Department Chair Ryan Miklusak.  

“It’s great to see so many interested boys voluntarily engage in fun and challenging math every Tuesday afternoon for an hour,” shared Mr. Scott. “They love to share ideas and clever approaches to solving difficult problems, and the peer-to-peer learning that happens in the process is inspiring.”

And what an inspiration they have been this fall and winter as they took their math prowess on the road against other skilled student mathematicians!