The cafeteria of the RCMA Immokalee Community School was decked out last Friday with balloons, streamers and banners in celebration of placing second in the nation for the 2019 Matific Math Games Challenge.  

Matific is a company that makes products and programs that try to make math fun for students in kindergarten through sixth grade, in over 45 countries.

Lawrence Korchnak is the vice president of Matific in North America. He said the Math Games competition was created to change the way kids think of math.

"(To) help make math exciting for children and communities and give them something to celebrate from inside the classroom as opposed to, say, on a field somewhere," Korchnak said.

The students of ICS competed against schools across the country over the course of three days. The students earned points for completed assignments that would be tallied up for the entire school.

Sarah Anzualda teaches math and science at ICS. She helped to get the students involved in the competition this year. 

"As the kids saw the points going up, they just got more excited about their chances of winning, so they just kept themselves motivated throughout," Anzualda said.

Although ICS placed second, principal Zulaika Quintero said everyone is very proud of their students and is eager to try again next year.

"It's not how smart they are but how hard they work for what they want," Quintero said. "And, let me tell you, they're hard workers, and we’re ready for next year once again."

RCMA Wimauma, also located in Immokalee, placed first in the 2019 Matific competition. The schools were given about $5,000 in cash prizes and $2,000 worth of Matific programs.