The purpose of WSMC is to foster a love of math and build connection.
The HS Contest is one of our events that we hope does this for both Educators and our Young Mathematicians.
WSMC Community
Join a community of fellow Math Educators to gain strategies and resources for fostering a love of math and building connection among your students
Coaches who are WSMC Members
WSMC Funding programs can open opportunities for its members! Check out the Educator Support Fund that can be used to build and promote Math Extra-curriculars in your school.
Become a member of WSMC to enjoy all the benefits
HS Contest featured in Washington Mathematics
Washington Mathematics is WSMC’s Quarterly Newsletter
WSMC Board Member, VP-East and highly effective Math Team Coach at Hanford HS, Kelly Casto, contributes helpful tips in preparing for HS Contest and starting Teams. To help launch or prepare your Mathematics Extra-Curricular, Kelly’s articles from 2025-2026 are shared below. For current Washington Mathematics issues, become a WSMC Member!
If you are a coach with ideas to share to get teams started or to celebrate a successful Mathematics Extra-Curricular, or if you have question you would like us to address in a feature article, let us know!
Fall 2025
Looking for an opportunity for your HS students to connect with others from across your region while working together to solve complex mathematical problems? Consider entering the WSMC HS Math Contest! Check out the structure of the contest here. This year’s regional contests will take place on a single day between March 10th and March 12th, followed by a statewide contest on Saturday, April 18th at CWU. Actual dates for the regional contest will be available in late 2025. Regional contest locations are being finalized and will be published on the HS Contest website as they are confirmed. This year we are happy to share that Pierce County will have an in-person site again at Emerald Ridge HS!
We will continue to offer the Virtual Site to support accessibility for all young mathematicians.
The Math + Art Contest is entering its 3rd year and we are excited to see how students combine mathematics and art in a 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional or Digital medium.
The Team Project will be published in mid-October
Registration will open in late 2025 when sites are confirmed for 2026
Why participate?
Builds teamwork! Students compete against a standard rather than against each other.
Students get to do math in a fun, challenging, and collaborative environment.
Team problems and projects AND competitions for individuals.
A math team/club gives students a place to belong and a sense of purpose.
Access and problems for all students from Algebra and beyond.
Students can win awards, swag, recognition or tuition vouchers. See previous year's winners here.
Only $15 or less per student who attends - covers both regional and state competitions
Here’s how to get started:
Get permission from your principal to take students to the contest.
Consider participating in Math is Cool regional and masters competitions. You can find more information here.
Talk to your activities advisor for paperwork to start a team and plan for travel with students.
Check in with your transportation dept. to determine the best way to travel to the event.
Begin talking with students to get them excited about participating.
Start meeting and practicing with your group with previous problems.
Keep following our newsletters for next steps in November.
Winter 2025
Looking for an opportunity for your HS students to connect with others from across your region while working together to solve complex problems? Consider entering the WSMC HS Math Contest!
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In the last newsletter (put link here) we talked about how to get your math contest team started.
This month, we have advice for practicing. The HS Contest Website contains all previous problems organized by event, including the regional and state problem. The answers are included so teams can practice the timing and get a feel of how events are scored. Practicing the Knowdown is particularly helpful to do with people they are comfortable with.
Practicing is a great way to test out team arrangements. As you build your teams, a few things to keep in mind:
Teams can be UP TO 3 people of different grades. Mathematicians may “play up” grades for any event, and do not have to stay in that grade. For example, if a team as two 10th graders and one 11th grader, one of the 10th grades can play as a 12th grader for that event.
In the Topical Problem, teams and individuals compete separately. Individuals compete against each other for overall 1st-3rd and then the Distinguished for each grade (highest score) after the top three placements.
The Team Project is due [end of February] for review by Mark Roddy. The Math+Art Contest closes after the Regional Events and is FREE!
Why participate in the WSMC High School Contest?
It’s affordable!
You only pay for the students who attend.
Your fee for the regional competition also covers your fee for the state competition (Saturday, May 3).
Builds teamwork! Students compete against a standard rather than against each other.
Spring 2026
President’s Message
One of our organization's longest standing events is the HS Math Contest, and we hold it as a high-priority as one of our few events that directly involves the young mathematicians our members work for everyday. Over the last 5 years, we have been focused on how to adapt the event to be intentionally inclusive and reach more students that would not be traditionally seen at a Math event:
- On the registration form, we ask what accommodations will support students. By asking this question, we have been able to find ways to add support for more students in participating. This year, we provided Spanish, Korean, Mandarin and Vietnamese translated versions, a scribe for a student and enlarged text versions. This year, we worked with Karla Rojas at Granger HS to create a Nemeth code version for a student with visual impairments that uses Braille.
- We added a virtual region. Originally started during Stay-At-Home order, we continue to offer a Virtual site for schools to be able to compete in their school or with students from home. This also led to connecting with a school and coach, Eric Paul from Emerald Ridge, who volunteered to host in-person in the Tacoma-area, a region that had not had an in-person for several years. With Kelly Mellott at Ocosta also volunteering to host in-person in the Olympia area and being flexible to add a school a few days before, we were able to have an event in all Regions again, including a Virtual region!
- We added a free and virtual Math + Art Contest. By creating a low-over head event that encourages students to express mathematics or mathematicians in a creative way, we have grown from 3 entries in the 1st year to 13 entries from 11 different students in the 3rd year. Seeing what these young mathematician-artists create is inspiring and we are looking forward to continuing to see it grow!
- Work with Regional hosts who communicate and invite schools in We are incredibly lucky to have a team of Regional hosts who work to share the event and create welcoming and fun events for the community: Ben Strong, Kelly Casto, Tami Matsumoto, Degan Bushman, Karla Rojas, Geoff LaBrant, Garry Carpenter, Andy Boyd, Rebekah Baldridge, Eric Paul, Kelly Mellott, Kristin Lessig, Molly Daley, Tamara Smith and Jim Weller.
This year the contest grew to 54 Schools and over 600 students participating over all of the events from all of Washington. While I can reflect and celebrate the growth in not only the number of students, but also who is participating, we still have room to grow. If you see an opportunity for WSMC to invite more young mathematicians into mathematics, please let us know!