College students aren’t the only ones who fret day and night about their latest math exam. And thanks to a group of University students, math can count for something more than a nightmare for local middle school students.

Mathcounts has been tutoring middle school students across the country for more than 25 years.

In Athens, University students Phillip Mote and Jenny Taylor have been running the program for two years, and have seen an increase in participants each year.

“Our mission is to get college students to go mentor middle school kids, using this program as a medium,” Mote said. “I know in my life, middle school was one of the hardest times for me – when I needed a mentor the most, and Mathcounts actually provided that.”

Mote and Taylor both worked with the program when they were in middle school, and have now turned that attention on Clarke County Middle School.

“It was a great opportunity, and I just wanted to help other kids really excel with that as well,” Taylor said.

Mathcounts offers rolling admission, and will begin meeting with school groups next week. It is a semester-long commitment and mandatory orientation sessions will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Boyd Graduate Studies building.

There are no prerequisites for volunteers, other than a desire to learn and a flexible schedule to accommodate several schools.

The tutors will meet with a group of students once a week using practice problems, creative problems and hands-on activities provided by the national administration. The team also plans to compete in the Athens Mathcounts competition in February.