Dragons pose in front of their movie poster at the Math Video Challenge Finals.

A still from the Dragons' video. In the video, students build this new prop for their school musical.

WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES, May 9, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A video combining geometry with musical theater won the 2022 Math Video Challenge, a MATHCOUNTS program sponsored by the DoD Defense STEM Education Consortium.

Team members Haley Blair, Madelyn Benjaminson, Mason Corey and Luca Lentini—all eighth grade students at Kingsway Regional Middle School in Woolwich Township, New Jersey—each won a $1,000 college scholarship. The team, who call themselves “Dragons,” was led by advisor Edward Heil.

The Math Video Challenge is a national program that gives students in grades 6-8 the opportunity to create an original video showing math in a real-world setting. Students spent months writing, filming and editing videos to submit in March. A panel of judges determined the finalists in April.

In the video, the flustered director of the school musical "Pary Moppins" becomes even more stressed after she realizes she forgot to build a set piece. With less than a week until the show, she needs the help of her actors and the stage manager to finish the blueprint in time for the big production. The video solved the problem: "A circle is inscribed in an equilateral triangle of side 12 meters. What is the diameter of the circle?"

Dragons was one of four finalist teams that presented a video at the 2022 Math Video Challenge finals on Monday, May 9 at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel. The audience included 224 high-achieving math students who voted to determine the winning video.

“This team’s creative video is the perfect example of what students can achieve when they’re given the chance to think outside of the box with math,” said Kristen Chandler, executive director of MATHCOUNTS. “We’re so grateful to DoD STEM for helping us provide these opportunities for free.”

Earlier that weekend, this audience of Mathletes participated in a written exam and a live “bee” style contest to determine the 2022 Raytheon Technologies MATHCOUNTS National Champion. This group of middle school mathematicians represented all U.S. states and territories, including a team from DoDEA. DoDEA team members Lucas Burbank, Christopher Gammel, Trent Wilkerson and Darren Zhuang, traveled from Germany and Japan after becoming the top four competitors from DoDEA schools.

“Congratulations to Dragons in the MATHCOUNTS Math Video Challenge! Their visual interpretation of complex math concepts shows their dedication to and passion for math,” said Louie Lopez, DoD STEM Director. “Thank you to Dragons for sharing your talents with our audience. DoD STEM is honored to support you and the MATHCOUNTS Foundation.”

About MATHCOUNTS Foundation
MATHCOUNTS is a nonprofit organization that strives to engage middle school students of all ability and interest levels in fun, challenging math programs, in order to expand their academic and professional opportunities. Middle school students exist at a critical juncture in which their love for mathematics must be nurtured, or their fear of mathematics must be overcome. For more than 30 years, MATHCOUNTS has provided free, high-quality resources to educators and enriching, extracurricular opportunities to students to lay a foundation for future success. Materials and information are available at www.mathcounts.org.

About DoD STEM
DoD STEM’s mission is to inspire, cultivate, and develop exceptional STEM talent through a continuum of opportunities to enrich our current and future Department of Defense workforce poised to tackle evolving defense technological challenges. The Defense STEM Education Consortium (DSEC) is a collaborative partnership of STEM-focused organizations dedicated to addressing and prioritizing our Nation’s STEM talent. For more information, visit https://www.dodstem.us/about/partners/.

For more information, please contact:
Molly Gormley, MATHCOUNTS Communications Manager
+1.703.299.9006
molly@mathcounts.org

Molly Gormley
MATHCOUNTS
molly@mathcounts.org
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