If you would like to volunteer to help run this year’s MATHCOUNTS please contact the coordinator, Dr. Walter Hammond at NASA, at 544-0584, or Connie Gipson at Earth Tech at 885-7786. Most people who have volunteered in the past have had a really fun time. It's a fast-paced day with the brightest North Alabama students - who may be your employees, co-workers, or even your boss in a few years! See below for more information.

MATHCOUNTS is a national math competition for junior high students - 6th thru 8th grade "mathletes". The competition was started by the Alabama Society of Professional Engineers in 1978, when it was called the "Math Tournament". In 1982, the National Society of Professional Engineers took a look at what Alabama was doing, and adopted it nationally, changing the name to MATHCOUNTS. The competition consists of a Sprint round (timed individual test), Target round (timed individual test, presented in pieces), Team round (4 students from one school, one test), and the exciting Countdown Round - a one-on-one, buzzer-assisted, speed and accuracy oral contest to determine the final placement of the top ten individuals.

Each year MATHCOUNTS starts with regional competitions in February, whose winners go to the state competitions in March. States then send their top 4 students to the national competition in May, typically somewhere like Washington D.C. or Chicago. The national MATHCOUNTS finals have received attention from the White House and the national media. Website: http://www.mathcounts.org.

Huntsville's 2005 MATHCOUNTS Regional Competition will be held on Saturday, 26 February, at Challenger Middle School. Five schools have signed up, potentially bringing 8 students per school. The competition starts at 8:00 am, and is usually finished by 1:00 pm. Volunteers from the engineering community are needed for things such as registration, proctoring, grading (it's a written test, not computerized), computer entry, and assistance during the Countdown round. Volunteers are asked to be at the competition site by 7:30 am, and are typically finished by 1:30 pm.

Connie Gipson, P.E.
Earth Tech, Inc.
256-885-7786
cgipson@csc.com