Math Prodigies

About two hours after the “24 Game: First in Math” competition began, Bayside resident Kevin Peng, 11, was wedged in a three-way tie with two competitors. Peng wrung his hands nervously and fidgeted, but a smile remained plastered on his face.
Once the double variable card, where contestants have to figure out a connection between two cards containing of 8 number each was placed on the table, Grace Leishman tapped the card an instant faster than Peng and recited a string of equations to win.
Leishman and two other children earned the top spots in each division during the May 22 competition. Starting with 150 students from the five boroughs, Long Island, and Westchester County only twenty-seven students qualified for the competition held at the Hall of Science.
Leishman, from Rye, NY, won the sixth-grade division of the competition, and a fifth grader from Rye City, Risako Narukam, took home the prize for the fourth and fifth grade division. Daniel Nunez, from Robert Frost Middle School in Long Island won the seventh and eight grade division. Peng’s parents also wonder where his inclination towards mathematics came from. Peng’s father, Edward, works in the hotel business and his mother is a stay-at-home mom. “He just works very hard for himself,” Edward Peng said, adding that Kevin has always tried to be like his 19-year-old brother, Kenny, who also excels in math.