Count This 12-Year-Old Winner In for National Math Contest Finals

Mimi Shih’s smile widened and her clapping nearly lifted her from her chair Saturday when the announcer read aloud her 12-year-old son’s name.

Robert Shih, an 8th-grader at Malaga Cove Intermediate School in Palos Verdes Estates, outscored students from 37 Southern California junior high schools during the all-day Mathcounts competition at Cal State Fullerton.

Shih tied for second place statewide when his scores were factored into a competition held simultaneously at St. Mary’s College in the Northern California city of Moraga. Three students from that competition will join him on the national team, set to compete May 18 in Washington. They are Sean Trekhler from Stanford Middle School in Palo Alto, (first place), E. Frey from Claremont Middle School in Oakland (tied with Shih for second place), and Arthur Shek from Churchill Intermediate School in Carmichael (third place).

The National Society of Professional Engineers sponsors Mathcounts to encourage youngsters to study mathematics and become engineers, said Cliff Ishii, an engineer from Cypress and state contest coordinator. This year is the seventh time the event is being held nationally, he said.

The winner of the national competition will receive a $10,000 college scholarship and meet President Bush in the White House, Ishii said.

The competition was nothing new for Robert Shih.

“I got to the state competition last year, so I’ve got some experience,” he said.