McKinney, Texas — When Alex Derkachov arrives in Chicago in May for the 2024 National MathCON Finals, it’ll be familiar territory for the 5th grade student from Frazier Elementary. In 2023, he competed in the Finals as a 4th grader, and his accomplishment this year marks the first time that a McKinney ISD student has qualified for the Finals in back-to-back years since current McKinney Boyd High School senior Matthew Johnson did it in 2019 and 2020.

Frazier Elementary 5th grader Alex Derkachov

MathCON is a fiercely competitive national online math competition that draws tens of thousands of participants annually from all over the country. The organization’s vision is to build a collaborative mathematics community for students and educators to support, advocate and influence STEM education in the U.S. to pave the way for the next generation of problem-solvers.

This year, MathCON organizers called upon students to complete 32 high-level math problems in 50 minutes. Competitors were allowed to take the test one time between Jan. 7 and March 8. The top performers from each region qualified for the finals in Chicago where they will put their skills to work on a pencil and paper test against the best of the best from across the country.

Just making the National MathCON Finals is a remarkable achievement in itself; each year only the top percentile—some 628 of the highest scorers in 4th-12th grade—are invited. They’re all after the same thing. The highest three scorers in each grade level receive a coveted gold, medal or bronze MathCON medal.

And, some serious prestige to go along with it.

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