Our team, Greg Kelly (President), Katy Rollins (Operations & Accounting Manager), Ayush Lodha (Statistical Modeling & Civil Engineering Consultant), and Drew Gallegos (Marketing & Accounting Administrator) volunteered and sponsored our local MATHCOUNTS competition hosted by the Northwest Florida Chapter of the Florida Engineering Society in both 2025 and 2026.
Our president Greg Kelly was honored to provide the opening remarks after being invited by the Florida Engineering Society, due to his extensive engineering background. Greg encouraged students to challenge themselves, stay persistent, and approach the competition with confidence, regardless of the outcome.
MATHCOUNTS is a nationwide program designed for middle school students with an interest in mathematics, offering fast-paced competitions that emphasize problem-solving and mathematical reasoning.
Students have the opportunity to earn scholarships through their performance in the competitions. MATHCOUNTS awards a total of $44,000 in scholarships each year, recognizing top-performing students across multiple competition categories, including state team champions, written competition winners, and countdown round finalists. The grand prize for the national champion is a $20,000 scholarship.
Approximately 64,000 students across 4,000 schools participate nationwide in MATHCOUNTS, with over 200 of those schools being located in Florida. These students participate in school, local, and state competitions leading up to the National Competition, which was held in Orlando this past May.
The top 4 students from each state travel to the National Competition and compete in a written competition, where they have to solve complex, multi-step problems both with and without the aid of a calculator. Then the 12 top scoring individuals go on to have a fast-paced, one-one-one oral competition to determine the national winner.
This year, Justin Kim, a 14 year old eighth grader from San Jose, California, is MATHCOUNT’s 2026 National Champion! Congratulations Justin!
The Massachusetts team came in first place for team competitions, with California and New York finishing in second and third place, respectively. Congratulations to all of the students who competed this year! To learn more about the top-performing Mathletes of 2026 click here: 2026 RTX MATHCOUNTS NATIONAL COMPETITION | MATHCOUNTS Foundation
Opportunities like these bring together students, parents, and educators in a shared learning space, which can make STEM subjects more approachable and accessible at an early age. SFE’s involvement with MATHCOUNTS is especially meaningful, as Greg participated in the program as a student. That experience helped foster his interest in STEM and contributed to his path into engineering. SFE is proud to support MATHCOUNT’s mission of encouraging the next generation of STEM professionals.
To learn more about Math Counts, click here: Homepage | MATHCOUNTS Foundation
