Osprey native Benjamin Jiang named 2024 RTX MATHCOUNTS® National Champion
Benjamin Jiang cheers after winning his final Countdown Round matchup.
National Champion Benjamin Jiang and runner-up Selena Ge during their final matchup.
From left to right: Nancy Blackwell (Chair of the MATHCOUNTS Board of Directors), Tracey Gray (Vice President, Global Business Communications, RTX), Benjamin Jiang, Jessica Merrick (Florida team coach) and Emily Kuehn, (Deputy Director of the DoD STEM Office)
Texas crowned top state MATHCOUNTS® team
WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES, May 13, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Benjamin Jiang, a 14-year-old eighth grader from Osprey, Florida became the 2024 RTX MATHCOUNTS National Champion following an intense, elite competition at the Westin Washington, D.C. Downtown this past weekend. He solved his way to victory over 223 competitors, including the 2023 National Champion. As the 2024 National Champion, Ben will receive the $20,000 Donald G. Weinert College Scholarship.
Ben squared off against his opponents in the final round of the 2024 RTX MATHCOUNTS National Competition by answering the question: “Kat finds the square root of n, and then she divides it by ten. If she gets seven point four, and not a bit more, then what was the value of n?” during the Countdown Round, in which the top 12 Mathletes in the country competed in head-to-head matchups. He calculated the correct answer, 5476, in just 16 seconds.
Selena Ge, 13, of Lexington, Massachusetts, was the Countdown Round Runner-Up and won a $7,500 scholarship. The remaining Countdown Round participants were:
• Eric Ding, an eighth grader from Rochester, Minn.
• Advait Joshi, a sixth grader from Livingston, N.J.
• Alexander Liu, an eighth grader from Oakton, Va.
• Rohan Mallick, an eighth grader from San Diego, Calif.
• Benjamin Song, an eighth grader from Pittsford, N.Y.
• Laura Wang, an eighth grader from Yarrow Point, Wash.
• Vincent Wang, an eighth grader from Austin, Texas
• Shunyao Yan, an eighth grader from McLean, Va.
• Channing Yang, an eighth grader from Sugar Land, Texas
• Alex Zhan, an eighth grader from San Jose, Calif.
In the team competition, Texas captured the title of First Place Team. Team members include:
• Nathan Liu, a seventh grader from Frisco
• Le Yi Tan, an eighth grader from Sugar Land
• Vincent Wang, an eighth grader from Austin
• Channing Yang, an eighth grader from Sugar Land
The Massachusetts state team took second place, and the California state team placed third.
Ben was among 224 competitors from all 50 states as well as U.S. territories and schools that serve the U.S. State and Defense departments, who traveled to Washington after earning a spot in the national competition. More than 30,000 students participated in the local and state competitions that led to this weekend's event, the 40th in the MATHCOUNTS Foundation’s history.
The 2024 RTX MATHCOUNTS National Competition used a sports theme to elevate the feats of these mathletic young problem-solvers to those of their athletic counterparts. During the competition, Mathletes® thought on their feet, raced against the clock and relied on well-practiced skills like athletes do—and like the best innovators of tomorrow will need to do. With imagery that evoked the feeling of an exciting sports game, the theme encouraged students to go the distance at the event and in their future.
“We’re really proud of these competitors and what they’ve accomplished, not to mention all they’ll go on to accomplish after MATHCOUNTS,” said Kristen Chandler, executive director of MATHCOUNTS. “Events like this are a great reminder that the future will be in the hands of these incredibly hard-working, capable and creative students.”
This is the 15th year that RTX has served as title sponsor of the MATHCOUNTS National Competition as part of its global commitment to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.
“Congratulations to Ben, the 2024 MATHCOUNTS champion, and all the competitors who put their skills to the test this weekend,” said Tracey Gray, vice president, Global Business Communications, RTX. “Making it to the MATHCOUNTS National Competition highlights these students’ perseverance, creativity and problem-solving skills, traits that will serve them well in school and later in their careers.”
About MATHCOUNTS Foundation
MATHCOUNTS is a nonprofit organization that strives to engage middle school students of all ability and interest levels in fun, challenging math programs, in order to expand their academic and professional opportunities. Middle school students exist at a critical juncture in which their love for mathematics must be nurtured, or their fear of mathematics must be overcome. For more than 30 years, MATHCOUNTS has provided free, high-quality resources to educators and enriching, extracurricular opportunities to students to lay a foundation for future success. Materials and information are available at www.mathcounts.org.
About RTX
With more than 185,000 global employees, RTX pushes the limits of technology and science to redefine how we connect and protect our world. Through industry-leading businesses – Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon – we are advancing aviation, engineering integrated defense systems, and developing next-generation technology solutions and manufacturing to help global customers address their most critical challenges. The company, with 2023 sales of $69 billion, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
Molly Gormley
MATHCOUNTS
+1 703-299-9006 ext. 101
molly@mathcounts.org
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