A team of five 11th and 12th graders from Pine View School in Osprey took home the top prize of $20,000 in college scholarships after being chosen from thousands of high school juniors and seniors across the U.S. as the winners of this year’s MathWorks Math Modeling (M3) Challenge, a prestigious competition that demonstrates the importance of math in everyday life. Kristoffer Selberg, Michael Gutierrez, Pragnya Govindu, Nicholas Butakow and Christiana Guan were among the 3,500 students, working in 760 teams, who participated in this year’s Challenge. Now in its 15th year, the 2020 M3 Challenge asks students to use mathematical modeling tools to solve a real-world problem by collecting data, creating models and submitting their solutions online.  This year’s problem, developed with help from industry association North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE), asked students to recommend solutions for the trucking industry’s transition from diesel to electric power. You can view the Pine View students' winning submission here.

A second team from Pine View School also placed in the top six of the competition, earning team finalists Jack Gallahan, Alexander Douglas, Vinay Konuru, Danny McDonald and Julia Kourelakos a scholarship prize of $5,000.