Swapnil Garg Crowned National Champion at 2014 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition With a score of 3-2 in the final matchup of the Countdown Round, Swapnil Garg knew he needed to answer just one more question correctly to win. He also knew how quickly his competitor, who came into the Countdown Round as the #1 seed, could catch up to him. As the question was read, the audience was silent with excitement. The smallest integer of a set of consec- utive integers is -32. If the sum of these integers is 67, how many integers are in the set? (Answer: 67 integers) Before the question was finished being read, Garg buzzed in—causing his competitor, who was furiously working, to groan in frustration. “Sixty—...” he began, before hesitating. Just a beat before time was called, he finished his answer “—seven!” It took him less than 12 seconds to answer the question. With a hard-fought set of matchups and a nail-bitingly tense finish, Garg took the top prize at the 2014 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition, winning the $20,000 Donald G. Weinert Scholarship and making history as the first Californian ever to be crowned a National Champion. Garg’s performance in the Countdown Round was incredibly impressive. Coming in as the #10 seed, he had to best three of the top young mathematicians in the country before earning the right to compete in the final matchup. Not only was Garg able to solve problems at lightning speed, he did so without once putting a pencil to paper! Like many national competitors, Garg is very well-rounded, with interests varying from playing the trumpet and tennis to reading Harry Potter. An avid speller, the eighth grader from Cupertino Middle School in Sunnyvale also had aspirations to get to the national level of the Scripps Spelling Bee, a fact he shared when he introduced himself during the Countdown Round. Garg made it to the regional Spelling Bee, but his success at the national level in MATHCOUNTS undoubtedly will be one of the most memorable moments of his academic life. Raytheon Chairman William H. Swanson (left), Chairman of the MATHCOUNTS Board Robert S. Miller, III (center), and Executive Director of MATHCOUNTS Lou DiGioia congratulate 2014 National Champion Swapnil Garg.
Transcript
Swapnil Garg Crowned National Champion at 2014 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition
With a score of 3-2 in the final matchup of the Countdown Round, Swapnil Garg knew he needed to answer just one more question correctly to win. He also knew how quickly his competitor, who came into the Countdown Round
as the #1 seed, could catch up to him. As the question was read, the audience was silent with excitement.
The smallest integer of a set of consec-utive integers is -32. If the sum of these integers is 67, how many integers are in the set? (Answer: 67 integers)
Before the question was finished being read, Garg buzzed in—causing his competitor, who was furiously working, to groan in frustration. “Sixty—...” he began, before hesitating. Just a beat before time was called, he finished his answer “—seven!” It took him less than 12 seconds to answer the question.
With a hard-fought set of matchups and a nail-bitingly tense finish, Garg took the top prize at the 2014 Raytheon
MATHCOUNTS National Competition, winning the $20,000 Donald G. Weinert Scholarship and making history as the first Californian ever to be crowned a National Champion.
Garg’s performance in the Countdown Round was incredibly impressive. Coming in as the #10 seed, he had to best three of the top young mathematicians in the country before earning the right to compete in the final matchup. Not only was Garg able to solve problems at lightning speed, he did so without once putting a pencil to paper!
Like many national competitors, Garg is very well-rounded, with interests varying from playing the trumpet and tennis to reading Harry Potter. An avid speller, the eighth grader from Cupertino Middle School in Sunnyvale also had aspirations to get to the national level of the Scripps Spelling Bee, a fact he shared when he introduced himself during the Countdown Round. Garg made it to the regional Spelling Bee, but his success at the national level in MATHCOUNTS undoubtedly will be one of the most memorable moments of his academic life.
Raytheon Chairman William H. Swanson (left), Chairman of the MATHCOUNTS Board Robert S. Miller, III (center), and Executive Director of MATHCOUNTS Lou DiGioia congratulate 2014 National Champion Swapnil Garg.
Garg competed against 223 of the nation’s top middle school Mathletes®, who came together on Friday, May 9th to participate in the
2014 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlan-do, Fla. Competitors came from all 50 states and U.S. territories, as well as from schools worldwide affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense and State Department.
Mathletes competing at the National Competition complete a series of written rounds in the morning, working both individually and as part of their state team. The top 12 scoring students earn the right to compete in the Countdown Round, an intense oral contest consisting of fast-paced one-on-one matchups in which students answer a series of difficult questions. Students have only 45 seconds to answer each question, though many competitors can answer Countdown Round questions after only a few seconds.
Rankings for the Countdown Round were determined by the students’ scores on the written rounds. The four stu-dents with the highest scores on the written tests, who received a bye in the first round of the Countdown Round, were Kevin Liu, a seventh grader from Indiana; Nicholas Sun, an eighth grader from Illinois; Hongyi Chen, an eighth grader from Colorado; and Colin Tang, a seventh grader from Washington.
The Countdown Round Second Place Win-ner was Kevin Liu, who was also the Written Competition Champion. The two semifinalists were Daniel Zhu, a seventh-grade student from Michigan and Alan Peng, an eighth-grade student from Missouri.
Since winning the title of 2014 National Champion, Garg has appeared on Live! with Kelly and Michael, where he competed against hosts Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan in an on-air mock Countdown Round.
Qualifying for the National Competition is an outstanding achievement that requires a tre-mendous amount of hard work, practice and dedication. MATHCOUNTS congratulates all 224 of the Mathletes who competed in the 2014 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition. The results of the competition are available on the MATHCOUNTS website.
Garg reacts when he learns he answered a question correctly during the final matchup against Kevin Liu of Indiana during the Countdown Round.
Garg and his family pose with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan during the taping of his segment on Live! with Kelly and Michael.
California won First Place in this year’s team competition, with team members Swapnil Garg; Jeffery Li, a seventh grader from Pleasan-ton; Rajiv Movva, an eighth grader from San Jose; and Harry Wang, an eighth grader from Los Gatos; as well as coach David Vaughn and assistant coach Vandana Kadam. Each student was awarded a $2,000 college scholarship, as well as a trip to U.S. Space Camp.
In addition to trophies and scholarships, members of the First Place Team were awarded a once-in-a-lifetime honor: they served as Grand Marshals in “Disney’s Festival of Fantasy Parade” at the Magic King-dom. To solidify their status as Disney VIPs, Mickey Mouse himself helped present the team with their First Place medals at the Count-down Round and officially invited them to lead the parade. In addition to exclusive access at the park, the team had the privilege of riding in the Grand Marshal carriage in the parade while park visitors applauded and congratulated them on their accomplishments.
The Maryland team won Second Place and the Virginia team won Third Place. Team rankings were determined by the teams’ scores on the written Team Round, and also factored in students’ individual scores on the written Sprint and Target Rounds.
Top: The 1st Place California Team served as Grand Marshals at the Magic Kingdom’s “Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade” on Saturday, May 10. Bottom: Coach David Vaughn, team members Harry Wang, Rajiv Movva, Swapnil Garg, Jeffery Li and Assistant Coach Vandana Kadam receive med-als at the Countdown Round.
Mathletes Featured on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer
Not many people can say they have been featured on the national news, but Mathletes Michelle Shen, an eighth grader from Indiana; Harshitha Gogineni, an eighth grader from Guam; and David Ma, an eighth grader from Mas-sachusetts can say just that. On Thursday, May 8th the 2014 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition
was featured on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer in a story about the incredible achievements of MATHCOUNTS national competitors like Shen, Gogineni and Ma.
ABC Reporter Gio Benitez and his produc-tion team got a behind-the-scenes look at the hard work and preparation that goes into competing at the national competition. Af-ter interviewing students and coaches and observing practice sessions, Benitez put his own math skills to the test, as he squared off against the Mathletes in a mock Countdown Round.
Eight million viewers tuned in to “Are You Smarter Than an Eighth Grader?” on Thurs-day. The video is available online.
Celebrating Spirit at the National Competition
The Virgin Islands team won this year’s Spirit Award for demonstrating exceptional camaraderie, enthusiasm and good sportsmanship at the 2014 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition. Among the team’s best moments was their math jingle to the tune of Pharrell’s “Happy,” which they performed at the beginning of the Written Competition.
Students from all teams showed passion and excitement throughout the weekend. The National Competition is only as great as the people who participate, and the energy that teams brought to this event made it so much more than simply a math test—it was a celebration of exceptional students, dedicated coaches and of what
incredible things they can accom-plish together.
Top: Christopher Lee, Kiran Rebholz, Coach Rebekah Sjoberg, Joey Feffer and Wanlin Li of Pennsylvania at the Countdown Round. Bottom Left: Hannah Zhang of Colorado and Alice Wang of Arkansas get ready to run in for the Countdown Round. Bottom Center: Rohith Paidikondala, Peter Zhu, Sruthi Parthasarathi and Max Guo of Ohio perform their state cheer before the Written Competition. Bottom Right: Robert Hunter, Mansi Totwani, Divyesh Gurnani, Manav Thadani and Coach Michele Humphries of the Virgin Islands cele-brate winning the Spirit Award.
ABC World News Reporter Gio Benitez and Mathletes Harshitha Gogineni, David Ma and Michelle Shen get ready for a mock Countdown Round.
“ICE CREAM CHALLENGE” BY PEOPLE OF PYTHAGORAS, NEVADADaKara Cooper, Shane Risolio, Aimee Sampayan, Joseph Tran and Team Advisor Hikmet Erdogan
“PRESIDENT POLYNOMIAL HAS BEEN POISONED!” BY POLYMA+HEMA+1C5, NEW YORKConnie Chen, Elena Diaz, Kristen Palmer, Sylvia Staal Riordan and Team Advisor Linda Russo
“THE BI-LIGHT ZONE” BY BILANDERS, NEW JERSEYSora Bridges, Dave Diez, Safiyyah Mosaad, Saleema Walter and Team Advisor Amro Mosaad
From Left: Garrett Minor, Matthew Meadows, Terrell Prince and Erick Patterson of Team Get ‘M pose with the pins and candy they traded with national competitors during the event. In “We’re Rich” three teachers learn they have won $234 million in the lottery.
“We’re Rich” by Team Get ‘M from Georgia Voted Best Video at 2014 Math Video Challenge Finals
Team Get ‘M from Georgia won at the 2014 Math Video Challenge Finals for their creative, funny video “We’re Rich.” Get ‘M teammates Garrett Minor, Erick Patterson, Terrell Prince, and Matthew Meadows, all eighth-grade students from The Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Ga., each won a $1,000 college scholarship. Their Team Advisor was Dr. Camille Jones, a math teacher at The Ron Clark Academy.
The four videos presented at this year’s Math Video Challenge Finals were among the best videos ever made in the program’s three-year span. From creative costumes to outstanding acting to excellent video editing, the finalists in this year’s contest truly brought math to life. See all student-made videos in the Math Video Challenge archive.
A total of 312 videos were submitted for this year’s contest. Students from the finalist teams came together on Sat-urday, May 10th at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Fla. to present their videos to the 224 Mathletes participating in the National Competition, who then voted to determine the winning video.
“We’re Rich” tells the story of three lucky teachers who win the lottery. When the amount they receive is less than they were expecting, the teachers calculate the percentage they paid in taxes to understand their lottery payout...and then they have to decide how to spend their winnings. The video solves question #143 from the 2013-2014 MATHCOUNTS School Handbook:
Three Maryland educators will split equally $234 million from the Mega Million Lottery. Each will collect about $53 million after taxes. What percentage of tax will be paid by each of the winners if the taxes also are split equally among the winners? Express your answer to the nearest whole number. (Answer: 32%)
“We’re Rich” had the entire audience laughing as the three teachers dreamed of parading around the mall looking for expensive clothes and jewelry. But in the end, the teachers decide to use their lottery winnings to start a new school.
The MATHCOUNTS Alumni Scholarship was created this year to recognize an alumnus/a whose experience in MATHCOUNTS—regardless of which program they participated in or how far they made it in their program—had a meaningful impact on his/her academic and professional life.
MATHCOUNTS received applications from more than 200 outstanding alumni across the country. The recipient of this year’s $3,000 scholarship award was Adrienne Carmack from Veazie, Maine. Carmack competed as a member of the Maine Team at the 2009 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition when she was in middle school. She went on to serve as a MATHCOUNTS coach for four years, and was Salutatorian of her high school, a National Merit Scholar and National AP Scholar. Carmack later joined AmeriCorps to work with Girl Scouts of Maine, where she created financial literacy planning program-ming and led troops.
Carmack’s experience as a coach and troop leader helped her realize her passion for teaching and mentoring. She will attend Colby College this fall to study psychology and education, with the hopes of becoming a clinical psychologist and high school teacher.
Program Highlights in The National Math Club
Thousands of clubs participated in The National Math Club this year, making it one of the most successful years in the program’s seven-year history. Every year, Club Leaders across the country receive free materials to start and maintain their school or organization’s math club. Then they set off to make math fun for students of all ability and interest levels.
Clubs that are actively involved in the program can earn additional prizes and awards by applying for Silver and Gold Level. This year, over 400 clubs achieved Silver Level.
This year marked a change in the Gold Level reward. Rather than taking a test, Gold Level clubs completed a mathematical scavenger hunt. Club members were challenged to find real-life examples of 12 different math terms, create a math problem involving each term, and then write out each problem’s solution. Over 200 clubs achieved Gold Level this year.
The club from Union Middle School in Dysart, Iowa won this year’s Gold Level Grand Prize Drawing. The club won a $500 gift card and an all-expenses-paid trip for four students and the Club Leader to attend the 2014 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition. Congratulations to the Union Middle School Club! See the complete list of Silver and Gold Level drawing winners online.
Left: MATHCOUNTS Alumni Scholarship winner Adrienne Carmack talks to the 2014 National Competitors. Right: As an 8th grader Carmack competed with the Maine Team at the 2009 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition.
Top: Club members from St. Catharine’s School in Columbus, OH created a detailed, creative storybook for their Gold Level Project. Bottom: Pam Erickson, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Raythe-on (left) and Robert S. Miller (right) present the Gold Level banner to the Grand Prize winning club from Union Middle School.
We would like to express our gratitude to the donors at the state and local level whose support impacted thousands of students attending Chapter and State Competitions this year. Their generosity helped make the 2013-14 MATHCOUNTS Competitions Series possible.
Alaska The Boutet Family FoundationBP
Arizona American Society of Civil Engineers–Southern
Arizona Branch
California Einfochips Inc. LinkedInProfessor Ram Kumar Memorial Foundation
Florida Boeing of FloridaFIGGFlorida Engineering FoundationLockheed MartinPublix Supermarket CharitiesShell Oil
Georgia Darton State College FoundationLockheed MartinShell Oil
Guam Environmental Chemical CorporationGuam Society of Professional EngineersHawaiian Rock Products
Hawaii American Council of Engineering Companies of
HawaiiBowers + KubotaCoffman EngineersControl Point SurveyingCovanta EnergyHawaii Society of Professional Engineers
Educational FoundationHawaiian Electric CompanyHDR EngineeringThe Limtiaco GroupNordic PCL ConstructionR.M. TowillWSP Hawaii, Inc.
Idaho Boise State UniversityHewlett Packard CompanyIdaho State UniversityUniversity of Idaho
Illinois College of Lake County
Louisiana Chesapeake Energy CorporationCoca Cola of ShreveportDomino’s Pizza of ShreveportEagle Distributing of ShreveportFugro ChanceLouisiana Engineering SocietySci-Port: Louisiana’s Science CenterShell OilShreveport Chapter of the Louisiana Engineering
SocietyShreveport TimesTBS Spark Foundation
Massachusetts Armed Forces Communciations and Electronics
Association (AFCEA)Arteem InstituteFay, Spofford & Thorndike, LLC–EngineersSociety of American Military Engineers–Boston
ChapterWentworth Institute of Technology
Missouri 3M of Springfield Drury University
New Mexico Arteem InstituteLockheed Martin–Sandia National LaboratoriesNew Mexico Engineering Foundation
New York State University of New York–Delhi
North Carolina Corning Duke Energy Foundation
Ohio Toyota ManufacturingUniversity of Cincinnati–Department of
MathematicsUniversity of Cincinnati–College of Engineering
Pennsylvania Drexel UniversityGannon UniversityWilliam R. Gorman, Jr., P.E.PPG Industries FoundationPennsylvania Engineering FoundationPennsylvania Propane Gas AssociationPennsylvania State University Pennsylvania State University–FayetteRobert Morris UniversityTemple UniversityUniversity of PittsburghUniversity of Pittsburgh at JohnstownWest Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.
Texas 3M of Texas AEPAlcoa–Global ImpactAlcoa–Point Comfort OperationsCitgoTerri Ellett, in Memoriam of Bill EllettFlint Hills ResourcesGovind Development, Inc.LNV, Inc.Port of Corpus ChristiRVE, Inc.Shell OilSid W. Richardson FoundationTestengeerTexas A&M UniversityTexas Education AgencyTexas InstrumentsTexas Tech University–Whitacre College of
EngineeringUniversity of Texas–Cockrell School of
EngineeringValero Refining Company
Vermont UTC Aerospace Systems
Virginia Blue Ridge Community College
Washington Microsoft
Wisconsin 3M of WisconsinAcuityUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, Department of
Engineering Professional DevelopmentUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, College of
Engineering
Wyoming Laramie County Community CollegeUniversity of Wyoming–College of Engineering
and Applied ScienceWyoming Society of Professional Engineers
National Sponsors• Raytheon Company• Northrop Grumman Foundation• U.S. Department of Defense• National Society of Professional Engineers• Phillips 66• Texas Instruments Incorporated• 3M Foundation• CNA Foundation• Art of Problem Solving• NextThought
Executive Sponsor• General Motors Foundation
Official Sponsors• Tableau Software• The National Council of Examiners
for Engineering and Surveying
Associate Sponsors• Bentley Systems Incorporated• Fidelity Investments• TE Connectivity Foundation• CASERVE Foundation
Patron Sponsors• The 2A Foundation• Creative Artists Agency• Sports Awards
Founding Sponsors• National Society of Professional Engineers• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics• CNA Foundation
THANK YOU!
MATHCOUNTS would not be able to reach hundreds of thousands of students each year without
the support of our individual and corporate donors. Their generosity helps expand opportunities to the next
generation of problem solvers and innovators.
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