Middle Schooler Named National Math Champion

After a year of advancing through the MathCounts competition series, Nathan Liu ’29 has been crowned the 2025 National Champion. Nathan attended the national competition, held in Washington, D.C., as one of four students representing Texas.  

 

Nathan began the weekend by participating in three written math competitions against more than 220 other students. He finished first overall heading into the final elimination bracket and arrived at the one-on-one championship round undefeated. After a tense back-and-forth, Nathan clinched the final point on the question: 

 

“A regular octahedron has a surface area that is 44% greater than the surface area of a smaller regular octahedron. This smaller octahedron has a volume of 1,000 in³. What is the volume, in cubic inches, of the larger octahedron?” 

 

Before the moderator had even finished the question, Nathan buzzed in and confidently answered: “1,728 in³.” As national champion, Nathan receives a $20,000 scholarship, in addition to a $2,500 scholarship for finishing first in the written portion. A recording of the championship round can be watched here.

 

In sharing the news with colleagues, math teacher and St. Mark’s MathCounts sponsor Valerie Davis made sure to highlight not only Nathan’s incredible achievement, but also the character he showed each step of the way: “Although Nathan is usually one that is few with words, throughout each round, he was cheering his fellow competitors on, even towards the end. He made sure to celebrate their successes as well!” 

 

Nathan’s National Championship caps an incredible year for both him and the St. Mark’s team. In February, Nathan placed first overall at the chapter competition, out of around 100 local students. In March the St. Mark’s team, composed of Nathan, William Tu ’29, Roger Wang ’30, and David Xiao ’30, competed in the State Competition. The team placed fourth overall, while Nathan finished third individually, qualifying him to advance to the national championship.  

 

Each year, more than 65,000 students nationwide participate in the MathCounts competition.