Students from a Title 1 elementary school in Pennsylvania have become national math champions, using their skills to win the Prodigy National Cup - plus prizes including a $100,000 tech grant to transform their classrooms.
Students from Sinking Springs Elementary correctly answered almost 730,000 standards-aligned math questions - the most out of 70,000 competing schools - during the inaugural National Cup finals, hosted by game-based learning leaders Prodigy Education.
Since January, more than 4.2 million students have represented their schools in monthly contests across every state in the world’s largest math competition. Students collectively answered 625 million math questions correctly on Prodigy’s free-to-use online math platform, with the contest culminating in a thrilling two-week final in May. The contest went down to the wire, with Sinking Springs rallying in the final days to narrowly outscore Medford Elementary School in Wisconsin and A.G. Richardson Elementary School in Virginia.
For winning the Prodigy National Cup, the Title 1 school - which supports 630 students across 4th, 5th and 6th grades, with a high volume from lower-income families - wins a $100,000 grant to purchase new technology.
“This is an amazing achievement and a testament to the hard work and dedication our students have shown,” said Dr. Heather Dick, Principal of Sinking Springs. “Competing in the Prodigy National Cup energized both students and teachers. It brought us together across every grade level and made math feel like a team sport. As a Title 1 school, we can’t overstate what $100,000 will mean for our classrooms, or how much pride this win brings to our entire school community of students, teachers, and families.”
Dr. Dick also paid tribute to 5th grade teacher, Michaela Sicuranza, for being the driving force behind their school’s participation in the Prodigy National Cup.
“I’ve used Prodigy in my classroom for years,” said Mrs. Sicuranza. “But the Prodigy National Cup added yet another level of motivation to our math practice. Suddenly we had classrooms from all across the school involved with healthy competitions to see who could answer the most correct questions every day. It really captured the imagination of the students. Even parents got involved, emailing us to ask for more questions to do at home in the evenings. To win the Prodigy National Cup and become national math champions is such an amazing reward for all the many months of hard work.”
From January through April, schools competed in regional contests for the title of monthly State Champion, with results dictating which tier they would be placed in for the National Cup finals in May. The full list of winners in each tier can be found here, with Platinum prize winners being:
Alex Peters, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Prodigy Education, said: “A huge congratulations to Sinking Springs Elementary, our first-ever Prodigy National Cup champions. At Prodigy, our mission has always been to ignite a love of learning - and it’s been incredibly rewarding to see how the National Cup inspired students and teachers to come together, embrace a growth mindset, and turn math practice into something truly fun and exciting. We’re celebrating not just the winners, but every one of the more than four million students who joined the world’s biggest math competition. When students are motivated to learn, everyone wins.”
Prodigy Education looks forward to launching fresh challenges for schools at the start of the 2025/26 school year. In the meantime, visit here to learn more about Prodigy’s zero-cost offering for schools.
