5 Houston high school students named runner ups in prestigious, intensive global math competition

HOUSTON - We first told you about the five St. John's High School students in an only on Fox report last week. At that time, the team was one of the top 16 teams in the nation.

It's not easy competing in the MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge.

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Thousands of students all over the country and the UK had 14 hours to answer this question: The predicted growth of E-bike use and its impact on society.

"It opened my eyes a lot to what you can do with math in the real world," said team member Addison Spiegel. 

The St. John's team made it all the way to the finals in New York.

They had to present a 15-minute presentation before a panel of renowned math experts.

"And afterwards, they asked us questions for five minutes, that was the hardest part," said team member Ananya Das. "Basically trying to breakdown our model and expose its flaws."

"It didn't really dawn on me how big of a deal it was until we came up the escalators at Jane Street," said team member Caden Juang. "It was marble tiled floors. Everything was really fancy."

"It was a really great experience," Spiegel said. "Not only to be able to present in front of very experienced individuals, but also be able to meet 30 other like-minded people from all across the country."

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The St. John's team came in second place.

"I'm so proud of them, and so pleased for them," said Dr. Dwight Raulston, team mentor,

"It was so exciting to find out we came on second place, and that we got the $15,000," Das said.

"I think this is still an amazing achievement for us," said team member Oliver Lin. "For our school, and our teachers, and all the people who've been supporting us."

"Out of so many teams, and so many high schools, it's really a big deal," Juang said.