MathCounts is a national middle school competition open to sixth through eighth grade students. Students complete two individual rounds and one team round. The team score is calculated using the scores from all three rounds. Topics covered include subjects that advanced students might see throughout middle school including algebra, geometry, combinatorics, and number theory.

The MathCounts competition takes place in four phases. In the school competition (held at MBMS in December), students competed against members of their own school. In the chapter competition (held last weekend), top students from schools from around the area competed against each other. The top performing teams and students in the chapter competition will now advance to the state competition in Riverside.  Finally, the best students in each state will compete in the Nationals in May.

To be successful, according to Cohen, students need knowledge of the material, speed, creativity, and team work. 

The MBMS Math Club meets every Tuesday after school, with about 40 students attending each session. The math club has been focusing on preparing the students for the MathCounts competition since the beginning of the year. 

"The goal of the math club is to nurture the kids’ love of math," said co-coach and parent Dina Mayzlin. "We do a number of competitions, including Math Counts, but we also do challenging math problems just for fun. We view competitions as a way to motivate and expose kids to enrichment math."

Mayzlin noted that all MBUSD elementary school have math enrichment clubs as well. The program is supported by MBUSD and the MBX Foundation.