In addition to qualifying for states, Tanush Moolchandani, ‘30, placed first in the countdown round, a portion of the competition in which students answer questions in a Jeopardy-style format until only one competitor remains. “My favorite moment was probably the countdown round of the chapter competition, because I loved watching mathletes compete in the intense buzzer round back when I was younger, and it was incredibly fun to compete against some of the best mathletes in the Greater Cincinnati area and win it all in the end,” Moolchandani said. (used with permission from Dharshenee Kasiviswanathan)

After months of preparation, the WHHS junior high math team, MATHCOUNTS, delivered an impressive performance at the regional level, earning second place and securing a spot at the state-level competition.

The team is made up of four students: Dharshenee Kasiviswanathan, ‘30, Tanush Moolchandani, ’30, Fiona Wang, ‘31, and Kushagra Khandelwal, ‘31.

The competition format features four rounds of problems:  the sprint round, the countdown round, individual rounds based on speed and accuracy, the target round, which splits the teams into pairs, and the team round, where the entire team works together and focuses on collaboration.

“MATHCOUNTS is worth it,” Moolchandani said. “You will learn a huge variety of math that correlates with real-world problems and connects the many ideas you have been learning in the classroom into complex problems.”

This isn’t the first time WHHS students have had success with the MATHCOUNTS competitions. Having competed at the state level last year, Kasiviswanathan was familiar with the pressure.

“The biggest moment that stood out to me was how [much] easier states were,”  Kasiviswanathan said. “I went there last year, and I was overwhelmed, but this year, after a lot of practice, the problems seemed much easier.”

Preparation played a key role in that improvement. Team members were able to practice consistently and choose the method that worked best for their success.

“I was under a decent amount of pressure, and my main tactic with studying for states was the ‘if you don’t study now, then you won’t get the results’ method,”  Kasiviswanathan said. “That really kept me going even when I wanted to call it a day.”

Beyond competition success, MATHCOUNTS has created a positive environment for students to explore the subject without fear of judgment from others.

“I know lots of people are scared of math, mainly due to bad teachers or just not enough practice, but MATHCOUNTS is a really fun place where you just vibe with other people,” Kasiviswanathan said. 

With a successful season now behind them, the team continues to build on a strong foundation for future competitions.

“You don’t have to do all of the math or get all of it; you just need to learn something new at each meeting; that’s all that matters,” Kasiviswanathan said.