Amanda Meng, an eighth grader at A.E. Phillips Laboratory School at Louisiana Tech University, placed fourth at the Louisiana State MATHCOUNTS Competition in Alexandria, for sixth-eighth grade middle schools, and will participate in the national competition this May. Meng placed fourth in the written competition and was the runner up in the countdown round among the top 12 students in the written competition. Meng also placed 12^th at the state competition last year. She is participating in an “Algebra I” course through Ruston High School as well as the regular eighth grade math course taught at A.E. Phillips and MATHCOUNTS. Dr. Beth Hegab, lecturer of industrial engineering and program coordinator for engineering and technology management at Louisiana Tech, founded the MATHCOUNTS program at A.E. Phillips. She and Dr. Dave Meng, program chair and senior lecturer of mathematics at Louisiana Tech, have served as team coaches for eight years. “MATHCOUNTS is an excellent program that challenges students gifted in math in fun ways,” Hegab said. “Dave and I have enjoyed working with A.E. Phillips students to enhance their math skills and get them excited about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers.” MATHCOUNTS is a national math enrichment, coaching and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement. Students engage in exciting, “bee-style” contests in which they compete against and alongside other bright, motivated students. The national competition will include 224 final Mathletes from all 50 U.S. states, U.S. territories, State Department schools and Department of Defense schools. Only four students statewide will compete in the national competition in Washington, D.C., John Kwon, Haynes Academy in Metairie; Shreya Reshamwala, Our Lady of Mercy in Baton Rouge; Jean Ross Normand, Our Lady of Fatima in Lafayette and Amanda Meng. Jonathan Nester, Glasgow Middle School in Baton Rouge, will coach the team. Written by Brandy McKnight – mcknight@latech.edu