Barrington Middle School will be well-represented at the national MathCounts competition this year.

Eighth-grader Ruoyu “Athena” Gao and seventh-grader Siddharth Gupta finished in first and second place, respectively, at this year’s Rhode Island State MathCounts competition, and earned invitations to compete at nationals. 

Barrington Middle School teacher and MathCounts coach Sarah Orrall said the top four finishers from each state’s finals qualify for nationals… “so we are very excited that two of those students are from BMS!”

Typically, the MathCounts Nationals are held in Orlando, Fla. or Washington, DC, but this year the competition will be held virtually.

The field of students invited to participate in the state finals was also condensed — usually Barrington Middle School sends 10 to 12 students, but this year MathCounts held three elimination rounds leading up to the state finals. 

Barrington Middle School’s Athena Gao (grade 8), Sophia Gao (grade 6), Siddharth Gupta (grade 7), Noah Higbie (grade 8), and Iris Yang (grade 7) outscored dozens of other students from schools across Rhode Island to earn a spot in the state finals. 

“These 5 students had to beat out many other students from the state just to make it to this level of competition, so it is a huge accomplishment for all of them,” Ms. Orrall said. “We had a very strong team this year!”