Student teams from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) won five of the top seven awards in the Northern Virginia Regional MATHCOUNTS competition, held recently at Chantilly High School. The regional competition combines the Fairfax, George Washington, and Northern Virginia Chapters of the Virginia Society of Professional Engineers. 

Approximately 375 sixth- through eighth-grade students from 45 elementary, middle, private, and home schools competed at the events as school teams and as individuals.

The winning FCPS teams, with their chapter rankings in parentheses, are:

Fairfax Chapter

• Carson Middle School: Gautham Agilan, Alexander Liu, Kevin Shen, Anthony Yu; Jie Peng, coach. (First)
• Frost Middle School: Samuel Chow, Betty Chu, Crystal He, Avery Huang; Julia Shin, coach. (Third)

Northern Virginia Chapter

• Longfellow Middle School: Yeeyung Li, Michelle Lin, Alice Wang, Shunyao Yan; Patti Freeman, coach. (First)
• Cooper Middle School: Andrew Du, Erick Schellhaas, Leo Wang, Ray Zhao; Lisa Walsh, coach. (Second)
• Jackson Middle School:Tiger Deng, Yenna Kang, Brandon Sang-Zheng, Alexander Tang; Max Blair, coach. (Third)

The top-scoring students in each chapter, with their rankings in parentheses, are:

Fairfax Chapter

• Alexander Liu, Rachel Carson Middle School. (First)
• Jeffrey Du, Frost Middle School. (Second)
• Crystal He, Frost Middle School. (Third)
• Teo Kamath, Frost Middle School. (Fourth)
• Betty Chu, Frost Middle School. (Fifth)

George Washington Chapter

• Rebecca Greer, Sangster Elementary School. (Second)

Northern Virginia Chapter

• Shunyao Yan, Longfellow Middle School. (First) 
• Ian Cheng, Colvin Run Elementary School. (Third)
• Leo Wang, Cooper Middle School. (Fourth)
• Garidkhuu Batkhuu, Longfellow Middle School. (Fifth) 

The top two teams and top four students who are not on the top two teams from the Fairfax and Northern Virginia Chapters, along with the winning team and top four students who are not on the winning team from the George Washington Chapter, will advance to compete at the Virginia State MATHCOUNTS Competition to be held in Fredericksburg on Saturday, March 2.

MATHCOUNTS is a national middle school math enrichment program offering competition and club activities designed to foster appreciation of math among U.S. students to prepare them for future career opportunities and success.