First In Math partners with New York State Education Department to sponsor statewide math competition.
ALBANY, NY — The New York State Education Department (NYSED) and Suntex International Inc. joined forces for the third straight year to bring a Statewide Mathematics Tournament to New York schools!
The May 31, 2025 Championship event at the New York State Museum in Albany saw students from across the state compete in a unique competition that tested their conceptual understanding and problem-solving skills. The first-place team at each grade level received a $5,000 award for their school. Second and third-place winners were awarded silver and bronze medals.
The program expanded this year to include all New York State students in grades 1 through 8 enrolled in Suntex International Inc.’s innovative FIRST IN MATH program. To reach the finals, students first participated in an online “Virtual Regional Tournament” in March that narrowed the field to just three students per grade from the same school, coming from 10 regions across the state.
Video of the 2025 Championship Event
Each Team of three students worked together on grade-appropriate challenges based on games from First In Math and Suntex's popular 24® Game series. Competition focused on building “number wheels” using four different numbered cards placed on a board, with points given for how many wheels were made and if duplicate numbers were used.
"Students are just having a great time applying their math knowledge to these incredible games, and you see students not only focusing on math, but also focusing on teamwork, on critical thinking skills," says David Frank, Chief of Staff for NYSED Commissioner Betty Rosa. "Sometimes they don't get the right answer, but they work with their teammates to think of other ways that they can tackle these problems."
Robert Sun, First In Math/24 Game inventor and the founder of Suntex, explains that this type of competition is designed as a true test of the math skills students had been practicing all year. "Students were presented with things they had not seen until right before the event. This challenge asks students to build on the math they know and apply it in new ways, demonstrating deep understanding and mastery of fact fluency and procedural fluency at their grade level."
"We welcomed many schools back that were here in previous years and we're very excited to see new participants as well — the inclusion of grades six through eight brought even more excitement to an already fun event," says Suntex Executive Vice President Nan Ronis.
NYSED selected the First In Math Online Program as a resource to support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) readiness for K-8 students throughout the state and provided free access to all schools. Students use First in Math in class or at home as an additional resource to promote math and improve fact fluency, procedural fluency and computational-thinking skills.
As part of NYSED's Expanded Mathematics Access Program (EMAP) First In Math access was expanded to all New York students in grades K through 8 for the 2024-25 school year. The EMAP initiative exists to provide students with access to online standards-based, math games and activities at no cost to NYS districts or students. The additional practice provides support to assist students in meeting grade-level fluency expectations and is accessible at school and at home to further help families to support their student’s math education. The use of this optional program is flexible. This flexibility can include enrichment/extension, fun summer learning, and/or to supplement/complement current work being done in the classroom.
2025 New York State Mathematics Tournament Winners
GRADE 1
- 1st place - Garden City School District, Locust School (Thomas Coppola, Meghan Chan)
- 2nd place - Three Village Central School District, W.S. Mount Elementary School (Nathaniel Ferdman, James Clare, Zoe Sonbuchner)
- 3rd place - New York City Public Schools, P.S. 144Q Col Jeromus Remsen (Callan Lynch, Ihsaan Hasan, Eamon Sheehy)
GRADE 2
- 1st place - North Syracuse Central School District, Cicero Elementary School (Victor Oliver, Zoey Butler, James Trionfero Jr.)
- 2nd place - Glen Cove City School District, Deasy Elementary School (Anthony Siric, James Baxter IV, Diego Hernandez Lopez)
- 3rd place - New York City Public Schools, P.S. 174 William Sidney Mount (Eian Wong, Aleks Chakhoyan, Matthew Wyszinski)
GRADE 3
- 1st place - New Hyde-Garden City Park Union Free School District, New Hyde Park Road School (Shaoen Wang, Joshua Howard, Lucas Wu)
- 2nd place - East Rochester Union Free School District, East Rochester Elementary School (Matthew Paratore, Daniel Walter, Charles Parr)
- 3rd place - North Babylon Union Free School District, Marion G. Vedder Elementary School (Kyle Ngo, Brandon Sanchez Toledo, Gabriel Alers)
GRADE 4
- 1st place - New York City Public Schools, P.S. 209Q The Clearview Gardens School (Lily Xiao, Aiden Chen, Gianni Galia)
- 2nd place - New York City Public Schools, P.S. 33 Chelsea Prep (David Z., Ezra Haynes, Alexander Rosenberg)
- 3rd place - Ossining Union Free School District, Claremont Elementary School (Tyler Cong, Rishaan Vinesh, Nathan Neto)
GRADE 5
- 1st place - Honeoye Falls Lima School District, Manor Intermediate School (William Cromwell, Nathaniel Geary, Garrett Mannigan)
- 2nd place - Jericho Union Free School District, George A. Jackson Elementary School (Eugene Wong, Tyler Huang, Rachel Xiao)
- 3rd place - New York City Public Schools, The Queens College School for Math, Science, & Technology (Lucas Huang, Aaron Xu, Alvin Zhang)
GRADE 6
- 1st place - Pearl River School District, Pearl River Middle School (Paige Caunitz, Lorenc Gjoni, Fiona Donnelly)
- 2nd place - Hinsdale Central School District, Hinsdale Central School (Avery Vosler, Gavin Blocher, Mya Goodling)
- 3rd place - New York City Public Schools, P.S./I.S. 48 William G. Wilcox (James Jun Rong, Grace Zheng, Boxin Zheng)
GRADE 7
- 1st place - Carle Place Union Free School District, Carle Place Middle/High School (Daniel Kubovic, Nathan Bosi, Madeleine Clancy)
- 2nd place - New York City Public Schools, M.S. 216 George J. Ryan (Tongzhixin Zhang, Jeremy Lin)
- 3rd place - Brooklyn Independent Middle School (Cooper Hill, Noah Banning, Dayo Olowokere)
GRADE 8
- 1st place - Spackenkill Union Free School District, Orville A. Todd Middle School (Lucas Jin, Sandra Wilms, Alison Lee)
- 2nd place - Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District, Wellwood Middle School (Aaron Olech, Noah Kopiasz, Ali Yaman)
- 3rd place - Buffalo City Public Schools, P.S. 079 Pfc. William J. Grabiarz School of Excellence (Emily Agosto, Sandar Min, Jai’anna Latimore)
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Editor's note: Suntex International Inc. is the parent company of First In Math® and the 24® Game.