But it took immeasurable dedication and hard work on the part of the nation's most talented middle school math whizzes to reach those few moments of fame.

Saratoga High School freshman Andrew Chien, 14, of Saratoga and his co-coach, math teacher Pallavi Shah of Cupertino's Miller Middle School, were among the winners of the 2003 MathCounts National Competition.

The competition included 228 young mathematicians who formed 57 teams, along with their advisers. But they represented more than 500,000 students in nearly 6,000 middle schools across the country. The competition—held in May of 2003 in Chicago—was narrowed by a process of elimination to a final countdown round, which aired on ESPN.

The challenge included algebra and geometry problems—mostly word puzzles—which the students had to answer orally on "the hot seat" after working the problems on paper or in their heads. To advance by round, they had to answer math questions correctly before their opponents and in 45 seconds or less.

"We're looking at the top kids in the nation," Shah said. "It's like asking Michael Jordan if basketball is easy for him."

Not only was Chien a member of the California team that placed first overall in the competition, but he also placed second in the individual portion of the event. Chien attended Redwood Middle School in Saratoga at the time the competition occurred.

As an ending and reward for their win, the team met President George W. Bush in an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. During the brief visit to the White House in December, Bush congratulated and honored the students for their educational talents, personally shaking their hands. After giving them a short history lesson about the Oval Office, Chien said Bush reminded them of their responsibilities as role models, also telling them to do well in school.

Shah, who teaches seventh and eighth grades at Miller, was also recognized with the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished Mathematics Teaching in November of 2002. Shah, 43, began co-coaching the state team along with Mary Fay-Zenk after school every week starting in September. They worked with the team even on weekends at sleepovers at Shah's house to build the group and bring them together.

"For me personally, it has been a very powerful experience," Shah said. "It has spiced up my teaching."

The Miller Middle School MathCounts team took first place at the Santa Clara Valley Chapter competition. The team advanced to the state round and finished first in the state competition. As a result, Fay-Zenk and Shah had the opportunity to coach the California state team.

The state team was composed of the top four individuals in the state. They included Chien; Erik Chen from Roseville, who came in eighth place in the individual competition at nationals; York Wu of Miller Middle School, who came in 11th place in the individual competition at nationals; and Michael Viscardi of San Diego.

Chien said he and his teammates liked playing cards, video games and eating pizza when they were not solving math problems. Under Shah's direction, the boys ran through practice rounds, exchanged strategies and checked their answers. They excelled on math problems above and beyond the level of difficulty of those in their class textbooks. Chien said the win came from lots of practice, not just natural talent.

The members of the group had to be as prepared as possible, so they practiced on Chicago time to ensure they wouldn't have jet lag when they arrived at the competition.

"We had buzzers that we practiced with," said Chien, whose family originates from Taiwan. His mother, Ling-chu Chien, also helped coach her son and organizes the MathCounts team at Redwood, which includes about 35 students.

Shah said she noticed that, among his teammates, Chien stood out under pressure.

"He could focus even with noise," she said. "He could hold his ground."