Hi guys! Dropping in with some good news for a change! Eric went to his regional MathCounts competition yesterday (for 6-8th graders). Last year his team placed 4th overall in the team competition, and he placed 6th individually. This year his team won by a large margin!
They do all the written testing (sprint - speed - round, target - harder questions - round, and team round), then announce the individual & team rankings. The top 10 individuals get to go to the countdown round, which is kind of like a game show. Well, after the testing, Eric was second overall, and the other boy from his school (and there were 27 schools from around the area represented there) was first!
So the way it works, is that number 10 goes against number 9, then the winner (first person to solve three of the problems that go up on the screen and buzz in with the right answer first) goes against 8, and so on all the way to number 1. You can only move down one space, but could theoretically move up from 10 to 1 if you beat everyone else. So first Eric went up against the winner from 3 vs. whoever - I think the actual winner was originally around 5 or 6. They ended up tied at 2-2, with the next question being the deciding one. Eric got that one and moved up to play his classmate for number 1!
Eric & his classmate in the hot seats:
Well, Eric had a lot of confidence that if he got that far, that he could beat the other boy (who he knows well and actually is very involved in Rubik's cubes too like Eric). Well, Eric got 3 questions in a row to win the competition!
Eric getting his first place trophy:
The team with their first place team trophies:
Eric with both his trophies:
Now he goes to the state competition in Madison in a month. Last year he placed 9th there. The top 4 winners from state get an all-expense-paid trip to the MathCounts Nationals, which this year just conveniently happen to be at the Swan/Dolphin in Orlando in May! (It changes every year). So I need everyone to start throwing pixie/mummy or whatever dust to help him get in that top 4! (Yeah, yeah, so I want it more than he does!

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