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At LDG, our culture encourages our people to make value-driven decisions for themselves, their clients, and their communities. Stewardship Stories share the experiences of our employee owners as they give back to the communities in which they live and work through financial support, volunteer commitments, and more.
Brad James, a Program Manager on our Highway team based in our Williamsport, PA, office, has been a volunteer with MATHCOUNTS – a nationwide non-profit organization that provides engaging math programs to US middle school students – since 2013. In 2015, he became coordinator of the Susquehanna Chapter of the organization and has been leading local competitions ever since.
How did you become involved in MATHCOUNTS? What are your responsibilities?
I became involved when the previous chapter coordinator was looking for a replacement. An email was sent out to LDG employees as a stewardship opportunity and having volunteered previously in 2013 and knowing what the competition was about, I agreed to take over the role.
In my role, I’m responsible for coordinating and planning the annual competition for the Susquehanna Chapter, which is one of four levels of live, in-person math competitions: school, chapter, state and national. I also coordinate training and materials for the coaches who help prepare students for these events, using resources provided by MATHCOUNTS. I also usually volunteer at the state competition in Harrisburg, PA every year in March.
Tell us about your most recent event.
In February, I led the annual MATHCOUNTS Susquehanna Chapter Competition. Each level of competition is comprised of four rounds – Sprint, Target, Team and Countdown – which take about three hours to complete. The turnout was great, with five local schools represented by 48 Mathletes, and our chapter sent six Mathletes to the State Competition in Harrisburg on March 18.
In addition, several team members from the Williamsport office – Mike Daukshus, Terry Krezmer, and Kerry Henneberger – graciously volunteered to help me this year and I could not have put on the event without them or any of the volunteers whose hard work made it possible.
What did you enjoy most about it?
The most enjoyable part of the competition for me is seeing how excited the winners are and presenting the trophies at the end. Seeing the smiling faces also makes all the planning worthwhile. It also felt meaningful that this was the first in-person event since 2020.