San Jose eighth grader wins 2026 RTX MATHCOUNTS national title

By AI, Created 5:05 PM UTC, May 18, 2026, /AGP/ – Justin Kim, a 14-year-old from San Jose, won the 2026 RTX MATHCOUNTS National Championship in Orlando after outlasting 223 competitors. Massachusetts took the top team title, and the competition highlighted the scale of middle school math talent feeding into STEM pathways.

Why it matters: - Justin Kim’s win puts a San Jose eighth grader on top of one of the country’s most visible middle school math competitions. - The national contest drew 224 competitors from all 50 states, U.S. territories and schools serving the U.S. State and War departments. - More than 64,000 students advanced through school, local and state rounds to reach the national event. - The champion receives the $20,000 Donald G. Weinert College Scholarship. - The team title and individual awards spotlight the depth of STEM talent in middle school classrooms.

What happened: - Justin Kim, 14, won the 2026 RTX MATHCOUNTS National Champion title in Orlando after an elite competition at the Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista. - Kim beat 223 other competitors in the final field. - Kim is an eighth grader from San Jose, California. - Kim won the Countdown Round by correctly answering a question about the absolute difference between the mean and median of a list with 20 copies of 20 and 26 copies of 26. - Kim gave the correct answer, three, in 36 seconds. - Kim also competed in the 2025 RTX MATHCOUNTS National Competition Countdown Round and did not win. - Arnav Vunnam, 13, of Novi, Michigan, was the Countdown Round runner-up and won a $7,500 scholarship.

The details: - The remaining Countdown Round competitors were Derrick Chen of Great Neck, N.Y.; Sophia Chen of Carmel, Ind.; Advait Joshi of Livingston, N.J.; Brandon Ni of Lexington, Mass.; Shaheem Samsudden of Plano, Texas; James Stewart of Southlake, Texas; Alexander Svoronos of New Canaan, Conn.; Dylan Wang of Mountain View, Calif.; Max Wang of Wellesley, Mass.; and Jonathan Yu of Reno, Nev. - Massachusetts won first place in the team competition. - The Massachusetts team included Yonis Gulleth, Shlok Mukund and Brandon Ni of Lexington, plus Max Wang of Wellesley. - California finished second in the team competition. - New York finished third in the team competition. - This is the 17th year RTX has served as title sponsor of the MATHCOUNTS National Competition. - The event used a superhero theme in Orlando. - Kristen Chandler, MATHCOUNTS executive director, said the competition takes “an incredible amount of preparation, discipline and courage.” - Keri Connors, RTX vice president of Global Employee Engagement, said the competitors showed perseverance, curiosity and problem-solving skills.

Between the lines: - The event is designed to frame advanced math as a high-status, public competition, which can help normalize achievement in STEM for middle school students. - RTX’s long-running sponsorship ties the competition to its broader STEM education push. - Kim’s return to the Countdown Round after a loss last year adds a narrative of persistence, not just raw speed.

What’s next: - Kim will receive the scholarship tied to the national championship. - The broader MATHCOUNTS pipeline continues from grades 6-8, with the foundation also expanding programs to grades 3-5. - MATHCOUNTS says the free resources and extracurricular programs are meant to build confidence and improve attitudes about math and problem solving. - More information is available at MATHCOUNTS.