West Valley’s Sawyer Schneider Solves for Success at State MATHCOUNTS Competition

For West Valley School eighth grader Sawyer Schneider, math is a subject that has always added up — and this week, it added up to a top four finish and national-qualifying performance at the state’s MATHCOUNTS competition.

“I want it to be known that West Valley, even in such a rural area, can produce kids with such possibility,” Schneider said.

MATHCOUNTS, a national program, serves to motivate sixth- through eighth-graders in their math endeavors through competitions. The program includes topics like probability, statistics, linear algebra and polynomials. Students are tested on their knowledge through several rounds of contests, including timed written tests and an oral match.

Schneider has always had an inclination for math. As an elementary school student, he recalls going to a self-paced school, where he worked nearly two grade levels ahead in math. He first started at West Valley School in the fourth grade, joining the MATHCOUNTS team in middle school.

His coach and seventh grade West Valley math teacher Peter Musick said MATHCOUNTS students at the school receive packets of problems they can work through, but much of the preparation for the contest is individually driven. Students prepare on their own.

“He really is good at just sitting down and working, and having that drive to excel in math,” Musick said.

To qualify for state, students must first compete at the local level. Then, they have the chance to compete statewide, where they can solve problems for an opportunity to make the national team, though that’s not an easy feat. Since Musick’s MATHCOUNTS involvement for students in the area started about a decade ago, he recalled only two other Flathead County students who have qualified to compete at the national level.

In seventh grade, Schneider said he did well in the contest without much effort. In his final year in the program, the eighth-grader, who described himself as “competitive,” thought he could do better if he practiced.

And earlier this week, Schneider proved that hypothesis correct.

This year’s state MATHCOUNTS contest took place in Butte on March 15, and included 65 competitors from 25 schools across Montana.

Schneider’s high-placing performance came from a combination of his scores on individual tests, and his performance in a Jeopardy-style question and answer round known as the Countdown Round. And as one of the top four middle school mathematicians in the state, Schneider clinched a paid-for trip to Orlando, Florida. He’ll compete with three other peers — two from Missoula, and one from Montana City — at the national MATHCOUNTS contest May 9-12.

“I’m really excited to just be able to go somewhere with so many kids similar to me,” Schneider said. “Like, it’ll be interesting to meet people who, from all around the country, are also into math, and just learning where they came from.”

For Schneider, the mathematical achievements didn’t stop with the MATHCOUNTS state competition. Musick said Schneider also placed first at a Montana Council of Teachers of Mathematics contest this week.

Schneider’s commitment to practicing more this year paid off, and now it’s something he’ll continue to do as he prepares for the national MATHCOUNTS contest.

Again, those preparation efforts will be largely individual, though Musick said West Valley’s math teachers can act as a resource as Schneider determines what help he might need to get ready for the next phase.

In Musick’s estimation, one of Schneider’s most impressive qualities as a student is an ability to self-identify his areas of strength, and where he might need more assistance to improve in math.

“I feel it’s rare to see in students, for him to be that mature, to assess that, and then bring that up to me,” Musick said. “I think that’s really cool.”

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