Six students and the Morey Middle School team are heading to the Colorado Mathcounts Competition on Saturday, March 8 after a strong showing at the metro Denver competition last weekend. The March 8 event will be held at the University of Denver.

Both individual and team awards are given at each regional event - the top 10 individuals and the top four teams advance to the state event. However, if a student qualifies because he or she is a member of one of the top four teams, that opens up room for other individuals to head to the state competition. The final list of state qualifiers from each regional event includes the top four teams and the top 10 individuals who are not also qualified because of their team’s success.

As result, Denver Public Schools is sending the entire Mathcounts team from Morey Middle School, including students Mike Nill, Ned Mills, Alex Whalen-Wagner and Manuchehr Aminian. Nill was also the second-place individual in the regional event. The Morey team is coached by Julie Dintaman and Diane Weaver.

Also, student Kevin Black from Hamilton Middle School will compete in the state event. He placed 13th overall at the regional event but moved up once team members were removed from the “Top 10 Individuals” list. The Hamilton coach is Daryl Fengler.

Mathcounts is the only nationwide coaching and competition mathematics program designed to improve math skills among sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders who are at a crucial stage in developing and sustaining math interest and ability.

In Colorado, the program is made possible by the Professional Engineers of Colorado. Schools register with Mathcounts and receive coaching and testing materials. They begin in September to prepare for the regional competition.

Topics include algebra, probability, approximation, geometry and statistics. Problems are designed to accelerate students' interest and achievement in mathematics.

For more information, please contact Jim Hall, 303-741-7700.