Math Olympiad 2026 Record Year!
MATH OLYMPIAD FOR ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS was established by a mathematician, musician and WW II veteran, Dr. George Lenchner. Since its founding in 1979, it is one of the most influential and fun-filled math competition programs in the United States, and continues to be the gold star of math competitions worldwide.
Hosted at Wichita Montessori School and coached by Mrs. Nalini Gangadhar, the Montessori, Independent, St. Thomas & Andover joint team of 7 students were amongst thousands of students worldwide participating in the Math Olympiad program this year.
- They participated in a series of 5 monthly contests
- With weekly practice sessions for 6 months
- Other participating member schools are located in all 50 states, 3 US territories and in 30 foreign countries.
- All in all, there were 4,179 teams and approximately 80,462 mathletes worldwide.
Individual awards are earned for total scores according to the following criteria.
- Dr. Lenchner Medallion - for a perfect score
- Gold pin - for top 2%
- Silver pin - for top 3-10%
- Patch - top 11- 50%
- Gold medal - top scorer per team
This was the year of raking in the awards in every single category.
In my 9 years of coaching Math Olympiad, this was the most award winning year. Our team earned a record number of gold and silver pins.
From Math Olympiad Award Ceremony with Mrs. Gangadhar:
WMS student, Alia Knopp, a fourth grader is my youngest mathlete ever to create history 2 years in a row. She receives Dr. George Lenchner Medallion.
Alia was 1 of 369 elementary students to receive the distinction for a perfect score. That puts her in the top 1% of the WORLD!
Alia also receives the gold medallion for the highest individual score in a team.
Last but not least, she will also receive a gold pin for scoring in the top 2% of the world. She truly has a thirst for speediest problem-solving and is my fastest solver ever! She is able to solve the entire contest and check it all within 10 minutes.
