The MATHCOUNTS Tuscaloosa Chapter held its annual competition at the University of Alabama on Feb 18, 2023. Six schools participated in the event, including the Capitol School, Eastwood Middle School, Holy Spirit Catholic School, Northridge Middle School, Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle, and Westlawn Middle School. The event had three rounds of written tests and an oral count-down competition among the top-ranked students; see the event photos at the bottom of this webpage.
Thanks to our sponsors
We thank the strong support from the Division of Community Affairs and Center of Community-based Program (CCBP) at the University of Alabama. We thank Tuscaloosa City School (TCS) Superintendent’s Office for full support, recruiting schools and promoting the competitions. We appreciate the Tuscaloosa County School System (TCSS) administration to promote MATHCOUNTS competitions among its schools.
We are extremely grateful to our sponsors:
- T-Town Friends. T-Town Friends donated significant funding to support math learning at local schools. Because of that, we carry out math coaching support at multiple middle schools.
- University of Alabama Asian American Pacific Islander Association (UA AAPI). We are excited to start a collaborative relationship with the newly founded UA AAPI.
- The Law Office of Changjae Lee. We are grateful for the generous gift.
- Alabama Society of Professional Engineers (ASPE). ASPE has been our long-term sponsor.
- Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa, Inc. Nucor has been our long-term sponsor since 1990s.
Team awards
- 1st place: Northridge Middle School, Coach: Ms. Rachel Courtney
- 2nd place: Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle, Coach: Ms. Allison Sanders
- 3rd place: Holy Spirit Middle School, Coach: Ms. Jennifer Mitchell
- 4th place: The Capitol School, Coach: Mr. Daniel Shankman
- 5th place: Eastwood Middle School, Coach: Ms. Tyease Peoples
Count-down round: Top five contestants:
Students can participate in the 2021-2022 Competition Series as school-based competitors or non-school competitors (NSCs).
- 1st place: Alex Zhu, Northridge Middle School
2nd place: Rosie Zhang, Northridge Middle School
3rd place: Minlu Wang-He, Non-School Competitors
4th place: Charles Dai, Northridge Middle School
5th place: Sydney Silverstone, Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle
| Individual awards, 8th grade: | Individual awards, 7th grade: |
| 1st place: Rosie Zhang, Northridge Middle School2nd place: Adam Song, Northridge Middle School3rd place: Nick Sifuentes, Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle 4th place: Sylvia Roberts, The Capitol School5th place: Chloe Moore, Holy Spirit Middle School6th place: Isaac Kim, Northridge Middle School7th place: Lubaina Ahmed, Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle 8th place: Ahmed Kasin, Eastwood Middle School |
1st place: Alex Zhu, Northridge Middle School 2nd place: Minlu Wang-He, Non-School Competitors3rd place: Charles Dai, Northridge Middle School4th place: Jayden Yoon, Northridge Middle School5th place: Rachel Shu, Northridge Middle School6th place: Brantson Dillard, Holy Spirit Middle School7th place: Aeesha Mulani, Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle8th place: Erin Tierney, Holy Spirit Middle School |
Individual awards, 6th grade:
- 1st place: Zeynep Gulcan Gurbuz, Northridge Middle School
- 2nd place: Will Sterritt, Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle
- 3rd place: Samuel Shen, Northridge Middle School
- 4th place: Devon Gibson, Northridge Middle School
- 5th place: Iolo Coma, Holy Spirit Middle School
- 6th place: Brantson Dillard, Holy Spirit Middle School
- 7th place: Tameem Azookari, Eastwood Middle School
- 8th place: Maggie Hamner, Holy Spirit Middle School
Advancement to the MATHCOUNTS state competition
Two school teams and two individuals have been selected to advance to the 2023 MATHCOUNTS state competition.
Two top-ranked teams:
- Northridge Middle School, Coach: Ms. Rachel Courtney with students: Alex Zhu, Rosie Zhang, Charles Dai, and Jayden Yoon.
- Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle, Coach: Ms. Allison Sanders with students: Will Sterritt, Maddie Lee, Nick Sifuentes, and Lubaina Ahmed.
Two top-ranked individuals (outside the selected teams):
- Sydney Silverstone, Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle.
- Minlu Wang-He, Non-School Competitors.
MATHCOUNTS special award recognition
The special award was presented to Dr. Yuanyuan Song, senior instructor at the Department of Mathematics, University of Alabama. She served on the grading team during multiple annual MATHCOUNTS competitions. This year, she was the grading lead, recruiting and training volunteers for grading.
Collaboration Initiative (New feature since 2022)
The 2022-2023 MATHCOUNTS-Tuscaloosa collaboration initiative was sponsored by the T-Town Friends, a group of Tuscaloosa residents dedicated to supporting local STEM education. We recognize three math teachers for their efforts to organize math teams and work with MATHCOUNTS Tuscaloosa for competition tutoring. They are:
- Ms. Rachel Courtney, Northridge Middle School,
- Ms. Tyease Peoples, Eastwood Middle School,
- Ms. LaTerria Carter, Westlawn Middle School.
