Forty-six students from five area schools participated in the annual Challenge 24 math contest at St. Bonaventure University.

The contest is hosted each spring by SBU’s Mathematics Department, and is directed by Angela Castle, ’08, an adjunct professor at SBU from 2011-2020, and Dr. Christine Uhl, associate professor of Mathematics.

The participating schools included: Francis S. Grandinetti Elementary School (Ridgway, Pennsylvania), Hinsdale Central School, Olean Intermediate-Middle School, and East View and Washington West elementary schools in Olean.

Challenge 24 is a game in which contestants are presented with four numbers between 1 and 9. The object is to combine the numbers, using each number exactly once, to produce an answer of 24. Any of the standard arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division) may be used as needed, perhaps more than once, to get the result.

Medals and $1,000 scholarships to St. Bonaventure University were awarded to the top three place students in each grade. 

 The winners were:

• Third grade: Cooper Fee (Hinsdale Central School), first place; Charlie Pezzimenti (Washington West), second place; Rowan Young (East View Elementary), third place.
  
• Fourth grade: Jack Crawford (Olean Intermediate MS), first; Mason Smith (Olean Intermediate MS), second; Geena Westfall (Olean Intermediate MS), third.
  
• Fifth grade: Hayley Richards (Hinsdale Central School), first; Irene Young (Olean Intermediate MS), second; Anvitha Balineni (Olean Intermediate MS), third.
  
• Sixth grade: Aisha Aylin (Olean Intermediate MS), first; Mya Goodling (Hinsdale Central School), second; Kavya Saravanan (Olean Intermediate MS), third.
• Seventh grade: Owen Talbot (Olean Intermediate MS), first; Elan Thach (Olean Intermediate MS), second; Lola Stone (Hinsdale Central School), third.
  

For more about the 24 Game and St. Bonaventure’s Challenge 24 Competition, visit www.sbu.edu/challenge24.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #6 for value and #14 for innovation by U.S. News and World Report (2024).