Quintero places in top third among contestants in regional math competition

Jude Quintero ’20 (left) and mathematics professor Michael Penn work on an equation during their Summer Research project in 2018

A Randolph student earned a spot near the top of the final standings in a competition that included 758 participants from more than 200 colleges and universities across the East Coast. Jude Quintero ’20 placed 166th in the annual Virginia Tech Regional Mathematics Contest (VTRMC), which was held in the fall.

The VTRMC, which began in 1979, is the second-largest undergraduate mathematics competition in the United States. Top institutions such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Williams College, Duke, UVA, and Washington & Lee regularly participate. 

Contestants at each participating institution take a 2.5-hour exam on their own campus under the supervision of a faculty member. Mathematics professor Marc Ordower supervised the event at Randolph, which included Quintero, Tyler Campbell ’21, Noah Carney ’23, and Essence Patrick ’20. Since 2012, Ordower has also offered a Problem-Solving Seminar to train students for the VTRMC.

“Randolph students have a history of performing very well in this contest, especially considering the small size of our school,” said Marc Ordower. “This year, the top ranking Randolph student on the VTRMC was Jude Quintero, who earned a score of 10. This was impressive considering that the median score this year was 1. I’m incredibly proud of Jude and all of our students who participated.”

The 2019 VTRMC is the latest in a series of strong performances in mathematics competitions by Randolph students. In 2019, Anh Vo ’18 ranked first in Virginia and 12th in the nation. He also ranked second in Virginia in the VTRMC in 2015, and in 2014 Hart Gillespie ’15 scored in the top 9 percent nationally.

Randolph students also participated in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematics Competition in December. Those results will be released later this spring.