The Austin Community College Foundation is honoring top-scoring students taking part in a national math competition. The American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) Student Math League contest is comprised of two exams, given in the fall and spring semesters.  The ACC Foundation presented awards to the six ACC students ranking the highest after the fall 2009 portion of the competition. The students were recognized at an ACC Board of Trustees meeting in mid-December.

From left, ACC Foundation Chair Tom Gallagher, student Austin Arlitt, Math faculty member Tony Vance, ACC Board Secretary Dr. Barbara Mink, student Bethany Sims, ACC Trustee Dr. James McGuffee, student Dhandy Ngo, and student Ang Li at the ACC Board Meeting

Austin Tate (1^st place, $300) – Tate is a senior at Liberty Hill High School. He completed Calculus 3 at ACC’s Northridge Campus during the fall 2009 semester. He plans to attend the University of Southern California or the University of California, Los Angeles next fall and major in Mechanical Engineering.

Jackson Featherston (2^nd place, $250) – Featherston is homeschooled and in his senior year of high school. He has completed Elementary Statistics and Discrete Mathematics at ACC. He plans to attend UT next fall.

Austin Arlitt (3^rd place, $250) – Arlitt is a full-time ACC student who plans to transfer to UT to study Electrical Engineering.

Ang Li (4^th place, $200) – Ang is in his last semester at ACC and has been admitted to UT’s Electrical Engineering program.

Dhandy Ngo (5^th place, $150) – Ngo is an international student, coming to ACC from Indonesia. He will transfer to UT in the spring to study Mechanical Engineering.

Bethany Sims (6^th place, $150) – Sims is a Business Administration major at ACC. She will transfer to UT to major in accounting, with a goal of becoming a CPA.

“The ACC Foundation is proud to support ACC’s team in the AMATYC Student Math League,” says Tom Gallagher, chairman of the ACC Foundation. “These students have a unique understanding of mathematics and have bright futures as they pursue careers in business and engineering.”

Last year, more than 6,000 students across the nation participated in the competition. The ACC team placed first out of 19 community colleges in the region (consisting of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas). Nationally, the ACC team ranked 20^th among 188 community colleges.

The current competition will conclude after another exam given during the spring semester. Final rankings will be available next June.

The ACC Foundation has supported the program for nine years, awarding cash prizes to more than 100 students. The Foundation provides a 2:1 match for financial contributions made by math faculty and others toward student prizes. The ACC Foundation has provided more than $17,000 in matching funds for AMATYC Student Math League awards since 2001.