Three hundred students, aged 4 to 13, competed in this year’s BC UCMAS Mental Math & Abacus Competition April 24. Students came from Surrey, Vancouver and Richmond. 
UCMAS Mental Math is the provider of the leading North American educational program in Abacus and Mental Math for children.
They had eight minutes to solve as many as 100-200 math questions using only an abacus or mental math. The math questions included arithmetic calculations of columns of figures that required students to tabulate at a rate faster than using a calculator.
“We are thrilled and proud of our UCMAS students’ skills and achievements”, said Rashmi Mehta, Director at the BC UCMAS Provincial Office. 
At the Awards Ceremony, 100 finalists and champions were presented with trophies and medals in 14 different categories. All students received participation medals and special gifts.
The dignitaries who attended the Awards Ceremony included Hon. Randeep Sarai, MP for Surrey Centre, Ms. Alexa Loo, City Councillor for Richmond and two-time Olympian, Mr. Nawal Tandon, Dhrishti Publications, Ms. Anita Dhir, business leader and philanthropist, Dr. Avinashi and Mrs. Veena Avinashi.