With a combination of intellect and camaraderie, Port Jefferson Middle School students took part in the 2018 Suffolk County Elementary Mathematics Tournament and ranked fifth overall for the sixth-grade teams.

Michael Melikyan ranked ninth overall out of all of the individual sixth-graders across the county who came together for the event, held at Stony Brook University.

Port Jefferson’s team, consisting of Eric Chen, Michael Melikyan, Pratham Sethia, Nicholas Smirnov and Carman Stanton, competed against 300 students on 60 teams from Suffolk County schools.

“The competition consists of individual and team Olympiad-style questions that challenge the students, encourage their love of math and foster working together,” Megan Ryan, sixth-grade math teacher said. “They had a blast!”