STUDENTS FIND FORMULA FOR SUCCESS

Julie has eight different pairs of shoes in a box. If she covers her eyes, sticks her left hand in the box and pulls out one shoe, what is the probability that the shoe she randomly selects with her right hand will match?

If you can answer this question, then maybe MATHCOUNTS is right for you.

MATHCOUNTS is a national math program for middle school students whose goal is to make math achievement as challenging and prestigious as school sports. About 35,000 students participate nationwide.

Y-Press spoke with members of two MATHCOUNTS teams. Tiffany Ko, 13, Nicholas Lynch, 13, Susan Hu, 13, and Kate Goeller, 14, are from Honey Creek Middle School in Terre Haute, which won the state team competition in March. Jessica Ranucci, 13, Neha Yakhmi, 14, Mark Koivuniemi, 14, David Sledge, 14, and Charles Tam, 14, attend Sycamore School in Indianapolis. Both teams are coached by Robert Fischer of Terre Haute, a middle-school math teacher who has coached teams to 18 straight state championships and one national title.

The students describe their experiences differently.

"You learn math and strategies and just ways to solve problems," said Nick.

"It gets to be more interesting than just regular math class because you get to work with other kids. And usually during math class you're not supposed to talk, but during MATHCOUNTS you're able to like converse, and it's a lot better than just working by yourself," said Tiffany.

Before entering regional contests -- the first rounds of competition -- coaches prepare their students with warm-up rounds and sprints from past years' competitions. Students compete individually and as a team.

Jason Brown, 16, a student at Park Tudor and a MATHCOUNTS alumnus, explained the competition.

"One round is a 30-question test with a bunch of quick math problems; it's known as the sprint round. The second round is the target round, and they give you four sets of two questions with six minutes per set," Jason said, noting that both rounds are done individually, with the answers written down on paper. "And then there's also the countdown round, which is really quick questions, and it involves the buzzer."

Another round before the countdown round is the team round. It consists of 10 questions to be answered by the team together in 20 minutes.

"I think the most fun round is the countdown round, where you just do quick problems," said Kate.

"I like the target round because you have more time to work on it. You can look over your work and make sure you've done it right," Neha said.

"I like the team round because you get to work together in teams, and basically you don't have to do every problem by yourself. You get to use the help of other people and help other people," said David.

MATHCOUNTS isn't all work. The students enjoy the camaraderie. "If MATHCOUNTS really wasn't fun and it was just kind of a brutal competition to see who was the best, I wouldn't want to do it," said Mark.

Some on the teams said their coach makes MATHCOUNTS fun.

"He has a really great sense of humor. Sometimes he'll just give us high fives and just say, 'Congratulations, it's wrong.' But you know, I like his teaching method. It's very individual, even though he's teaching maybe a class of 30 people at certain points," said Charles.

"Mr. Fischer is a great teacher. I almost definitely wouldn't do MATHCOUNTS if he weren't the coach 'cause he's just a great coach. He's just hilarious. He brings pizza," David said.

The program isn't just for people who do well in math class.

"Everyone thinks that the only reason you join is because you're good at math and you're gonna do well. But really there are some people, you know, who might be in a lower math class and they do fine. You just have to want to learn," said Jessica.

"It's not so much what you know; it's how hard you're willing to work," agreed Charles.

Fischer believes the program is for any interested student.

"First of all, I would say the MATHCOUNTS program is not just for your top four or eight kids at a school. I wouldn't do all this work for just eight kids. I'll do work for any student who, regardless of grade level, can benefit from doing the mathematics," he said.

The time spent on MATHCOUNTS is an equation in itself.

Susan calculated hers: "Well, from 7 to 7:50, we take contests every morning except for Friday. So four times 50 minutes, 200 minutes, plus we have an hour and a half after school, and that's 90 minutes, so 290 (minutes)," she said.

To put in that much time, kids must care about more than numbers.

The program also gives them many skills.

"I've learned to think on my feet because you have to be quick mentally to do these problems," Jason said.

"I've learned a lot of different problem-solving strategies. I think it helped me with the SAT," said David.

The kids hope MATHCOUNTS will play a significant role in their lives.

"If you do well with the math experience that you have, it will look good on your college application," Tiffany said.

"I think it will especially help if we get scholarships," said Kate.

For Kate, Tiffany, Nick, Susan and Charles, MATHCOUNTS already has helped with college. As five of the top 10 individuals in the state competition, they received $22,000 scholarships to Purdue University. And, as the top finisher, Kate also came away with a $40,000 scholarship to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.

Kate, Tiffany, Charles and Michael Harris of the Orchard School will represent Indiana in the national competition in June in Chicago.

"It opens doors for their future," Fischer said of MATHCOUNTS. "I always tell my kids I'll never try to convince you to be one particular thing in life; that's your decision. But my job is to make sure you're as well-prepared as possible to have those choices later. And that to me is a real benefit of MATHCOUNTS -- you get young people excited about learning math and realizing they can be good at it. That's the full payoff."

By the way, the answer to the math problem is that Julie has a one in 15 chance of getting a matching shoe.

REPORTER: Amber Gray, 11.