The eight winners of this year’s MATHletes Challenge received more then they bargained for this month when Dublin City University (DCU), host of this year’s event, topped up the €20,000 prize pot with an additional €10,000 in scholarships.
The All-Ireland final also saw four schools crowned champions.
“DCU is delighted to support the MATHletes Challenge competition. It is a wonderful initiative that brings excitement to the learning and application of mathematics,” said DCU President Brian MacCraith.
“It has already engaged tens of thousands of students all over Ireland in a manner that will have lasting effects on their future.”
The four month-long tournament saw a total of 13,000 students whittled down to 200 ahead of the final. The winners came from Dublin, Clare, Cork, Mayo and Waterford, with the schools coming from Dublin, Mayo and Wexford.
Based on the Khan Academy approach to learning and teaching maths, MATHletes Challenge is a free online maths tournament for students from 4th class in primary school to 5th year in secondary school.
“These students are some of the brightest young mathematical minds in Ireland,” said Sean O’Sullivan, the entrepreneur behind the competition.
“By introducing them to the Khan Academy and MATHletes, we are giving them the tools, confidence, and ability to pursue further education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) fields and build a world class technical workforce for Ireland.”
The overall winners were: Nathan Keenan from De La Salle, Waterford (5th year), Darragh Glynn from St Paul’s College, Dublin (4th year), Tom McCarthy from St Gerald’s College, Mayo (3rd year), Leon Keating from Colaiste an Spioraid Niamh (2nd year), Brendan Alinquant from Confey Community College, Dublin (1st year), Archie Connolly from Barefield National School, Clare (6th class), Han McKenna from Rush and Lusk Educate Together National School, Dublin (5th class) and Richard Sheahan from St. Conleth’s Junior School, Dublin (4th class).
