Mathcounts draws Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto students competitors

BRADENTON -- One minute can feel like a split second when you're trying to read, write, process and answer a math question all at the same time while making sure nobody beats you to it.

On Friday, about 150 students from Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties faced such a situation during the annual regional Mathcounts competition at Saint Stephen's Episcopal School.

"It almost made me freeze," said 13-year-old Garret Murphy, an eighth-grader at Braden River Middle School.

Mathcounts is a 30-year-old national competition for middle-school students.

In Florida, local chapters of the Florida Engineering Society help run the events.

Top teams and individuals from the regional levels head to the state competition.

State winners head to a national competition, and just like the championship sports teams, the winning math team is honored with a visit to the White House.

"It really resonates with the students," said Marc Jones, the Saint Stephen's team coach. "It makes math a lot of fun."

Twenty Saint Stephen's math club students tried out for the team. Eleven, the maximum number allowed, made the cut and competed Friday. That included 13-year-old Catherine Van Keuren, one of the top 10 individual scorers.

"I like solving the problems and getting answers,"

Van Keuren said. "It goes so fast and the people around us are so good at math, it's hard to keep up."

Competing Manatee County teams included Braden River and Buffalo Creek middle schools, Center Montessori School and Saint Stephen's. The daylong event included multiple competitions run by organizers from the Myakka Chapter of the Florida Engineering Society.

For Chip Hoover, it's a way for engineers to strut their stuff.

"Nobody really knows what we do," Hoover said. "This is outreach for us."

Hoover has helped with the event for 25 years, he said. One of the biggest changes he's noticed is an uptick in the number of female competitors.

When Hoover's wife graduated from college in 1975 with an engineering degree, she was the only woman on the gymnasium floor for the ceremony. That's changed.

"That's the main thing: girls," he said.

Jones agreed.

"There's no math phobia anymore."

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter @MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 11:37 PM with the headline "Mathcounts draws Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto students competitors ."