Students participate in MathCON

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Sydney Salvatore, Staff writer

MathCON is a nonprofit national mathematics organization that is known for its annual student math competition. Any students from grades 5-12 can participate and there were more than 200,000 participants since 2008. The goal of this organization is to promote STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, education for all students around the United States.

MathCON took place January 21- March 6. This was the window for students to participate in round 1, which was an online test that students took in school. After round 1, they wait 2-3 weeks for the results. When a student moves on to the next round, they are invited to Chicago to compete in round 2. Mrs. Bookhamer says that last year Elliott Thorp was invited to participate in round 2 against the top 25 seniors in the country. Elliott ended up coming in 16th overall.

Clearfield has taken part in MathCON for six years now. Over 50,000 students across the country take part in round 1. Only 1% of the top scorers get invited to participate in round 2 in Chicago.

Mrs. Bookhamer says, “Our students in Clearfield are competing on a nationwide scale and my hopes are always that many make it to Chicago to prove what fantastic mathematics education they get here.” Mrs. Bookhamer coordinates this competition every year and she is always very proud of our Mathematics program. She says we consistently have many students score in the top 5-10% of over 50,000 students.