A great big CONGRATULATIONS to 8th-grader, Peter Hu, for winning FIRST PLACE at the 29th annual Johnstown Regional Mathcounts Competition. The regional competition was held on February 11 on the campus of UPJ and was sponsored by the Johnstown Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers (PSPE). Peter, the son of Dr. Hai Hu and Dr. Ling Liang, placed first out of approximately 140 students from area schools. Going into the final round, Peter was in 2nd place, but overtook the leader from Westmont in a very exciting round to claim the title. He is only the third Richland student to win the competition since its start in 1984.

Peter moved on to the state competition in Harrisburg which was held on March 23-24. At the state competition, Peter faced off against the top finalists of the additional 22 regional competitions from Pennsylvania. Of the 2500 students who competed at the regional competition, about 180 moved on to the state competition. He is only the third Richland student to win the competition since its start in 1984. Peter did not place at the state competition, but he gained valuable experience and enjoyed the opportunity to represent Richland School District. It was an exciting year for Peter and myself and I am very proud of his accomplishment and his hard work and dedication to Mathcounts.

Side note:
At UPJ, Richland also took third place in the team competition out of seventeen schools. Members of Richland's team were: Peter Hu, Zachary Maser, Joel Bacci, and Hunter Malhotra. Additional participants at this year's competition were: Niki Patel, Kristen Morello, Melody Dematties, and Nadia Khan.