Area middle school girls compete in Woodlands Academy Mathalon

A trio of students comprising Team 1 from St. Patrick School in Wadsworth took home the first-place trophy following Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart’s 12th annual Mathalon event on Feb. 1. In all, 45 girls (grades 6-8) from 11 schools in Lake and Cook counties competed. They spent a Saturday morning putting their math skills to the test in creative, problem-solving ways at the all-girls college-prep day-and-boarding high school in Lake Forest.

Finishing in second place this year was Palatine’s Quest Academy, followed by Lake Bluff Middle School in third place, Chicago’s Frances Xavier Warde Team 1 in fourth and Lake Forest Country Day rounding out the top five.

Other schools participating in this year’s Woodlands Academy Mathalon were St. Constance School from Chicago, St. Gilbert from Grayslake, East Lake Academy from Lake Forest, Most Blessed Trinity Academy from Waukegan, Sacred Heart Schools from Chicago (Sheridan Rd.) and Barrington’s St. Anne.

Woodlands Academy created Mathalon to get girls interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) courses and, possibly, careers at an early age. According to Rocco Gargiulo, Woodlands Academy associate head of school for academics (and former math teacher at the school), there were no rote paper and pencil drills in this competition.

“These events were hands-on cooperative activities that engaged students to use mathematics in creative, problem-solving ways,” Gargiulo said. “They involved mathematical computation, estimation, visual/spatial reasoning, logic and the use of technology.”

Fifteen teams of three middle school girls tackled a variety of fun and engaging mathematical tasks such as building, counting, drawing, estimating, folding and hypothesizing with Woodlands students serving as their guides and mentors.

Woodlands Academy is a Catholic, independent day-and-boarding high school for young women in grades nine through 12 that promotes academic, artistic and athletic excellence along with global awareness, social responsibility and strong faith. It is the #1 Best All-girls High School in Illinois for the eighth consecutive year, based on 2025 rankings by Niche, an independent research company.

According to the International Coalition of Girls' Schools, all-girls schools are producing a disproportionately large number of women in the sciences. Research they cite shows that girls' school graduates are six times more likely to consider majoring in math, science and technology and three times more likely to consider engineering than girls who attend coed schools.