Eighth-grader Jingyu Li won first place and led Laramie Junior High School to the team championship at the recent 2010 Wyoming State Mathcounts competition held at the University of Wyoming.
Li's teammates, Sarah Shader and Maurice Shih, took second and third place, respectively, and Mark Fenn of Pinedale Middle School was fourth. The top four individual winners earned the opportunity to represent Wyoming at the national competition May 6-10 in Orlando, Fla. They will be accompanied by Dennis Rimmasch, who coached the Laramie team, and Christy Zakotnik, who coached the Pinedale team.
Second place in the team competition was Powell Middle School coached by Dale Estes and third place was Evanston's Davis Middle School, coached by Donna Carroll.
Open to all sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students, Mathcounts helps students understand how math is important to solve problems in everyday life, says Jeff Anderson, state Mathcounts coordinator in the UW College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS).
The Wyoming Society of Professional Engineers, American Public Works Association-Rocky Mountain Chapter, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the CEAS sponsor the state competition.
National sponsors are the CNA, the National Society of Professional Engineers, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, ConocoPhillips, Texas Instruments Incorporated, 3M Foundation, Raytheon Company, National Defense Education Program, Northrop Grumman, and Pitsco Education.
For more information e-mail Anderson at janderso@uwyo.edu.
