Mason Wakefield of Bennett Elementary posted the top score in the fifth grade MathCON Southwest regional competition. He and seven other MISD fifth grade students grabbed eight of the top 10 scores for the region and qualified for the National Finals in May: Diogo Bandeira (Wolford); Mabel Cotter (Caldwell); Richard Jeong (Wolford); Grant Krueger (Wilmeth); Jared Mosley (Bennett); Talan Penley (Glen Oaks) and Logan Schwab (Eddins).

McKinney, Texas – Spring appears to have arrived in earnest, bringing with it highly anticipated mild temperatures and plenty of fair-weather activities for kids: track, baseball, soccer and…math!

Before spring break, 370 McKinney ISD students participated in the fifth grade MathCON online math competition, and eight of them will be heading to Chicago in May for the National Finals after claiming eight of the top 10 fifth grade scores for the Southwest region.

Another four MISD fifth graders scored in the top 20 and are among the students on the waitlist for Chicago. And…an additional 218 MISD kids earned honorable mention recognition in the contest.

“That says a lot about the math program here in McKinney—period,” said MISD Elementary Gifted and Talented Coordinator Trey Wright. “These are kids from many different campuses. They’re not coming simply from one campus, so it shows the strength of math education across McKinney ISD.

“And, it’s a really cool opportunity for kids to excel in math and to celebrate math. We celebrate a lot of things, but it’s nice to see kids excel and get a chance to shine in a subject that you don’t normally get to shine in,” said Wright.

The MathCON competition draws tens of thousands of participants each year from all over the country. For 2018, competitors faced the challenge of answering 45 math questions in 45 minutes. The top performers from each region qualified to travel to the finals in Chicago where they will compete on a pencil and paper test against the best of the best from the U.S.

Mason Wakefield of Bennett Elementary is one of those kids. He posted the top fifth grade score in the Southwest region. And, in spite of the fact that math has been his “strong suit since kindergarten,” the results caught him a bit off-guard.

“I was really excited and kind of surprised,” said Mason of learning that he had posted the best score in the region. Now, he faces the challenge of competing against the next level of competition. “[I’m] excited. A little nervous, too. It’s more of a competition setting…I want to at least do a good job and make my town proud and my school proud,” he said.

It’s safe to say that he and his fellow MISD MathCON competitors have already accomplished that.

Here are the students who qualified as finalists and those who made the waitlist for Chicago.

Finalists:
Diogo Bandeira – Wolford Elementary
Mabel Cotter – Caldwell Elementary
Richard Jeong – Wolford Elementary
Grant Krueger – Wilmeth Elementary
Jared Mosley – Bennett Elementary
Talan Penley – Glen Oaks Elementary
Logan Schwab – Eddins Elementary
Mason Wakefield – Bennett Elementary

Waitlist:
Caleb Bernal-Johnson – Glen Oaks Elementary
Elijah Cade Brosseau – Reuben Johnson Elementary
Matthew Harber – Wilmeth Elementary
Isaiah Werner – Wolford Elementary

MathCON’s mission is to enhance mathematics education with a vision toward building a mathematics community for students and educators in order to support, advance and influence STEM education in the U.S. to pave the way for the 21st century generation of problem-solvers.

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