In 2026, MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge continued the SPARK Awards for teams that develop Solutions with Passion, Resourcefulness, and Knowledge. These scholarship awards recognize teams from Title 1 schools in the United States that demonstrate excellence and creativity in solving one or more parts of the Challenge problem. This special award category was created through the generosity and support of the Hilda & Preston Davis Foundation. M3 Challenge organizers expressed gratitude for the foundation presenting students with this opportunity for another year.
Of the 770 teams—made up of more than 3,430 teenagers from the U.S. and U.K. — that participated in this year’s M3 Challenge, three teams were chosen as the 2026 SPARK Award recipients. This year’s Challenge problem asked students to model gambling behavior and assess both financial risk and broader societal impacts. For their work, each team member receives an individual scholarship, and their school is awarded $750 to support and strengthen its math program.
Summit Senior High School (Team #18868) of Summit, New Jersey, won the top prize of a $3,000 team scholarship, which will be split amongst the team members. The team’s coach, Frank Baragona, noted that his students “seem to relish the opportunity to challenge themselves with a problem that is not a typical high school mathematics task. It was clear they not only enjoyed the problem-solving nature of the contest but also enjoyed the opportunity to be part of a team and collaborate to find possible solutions to a difficult problem.” He went on to express his pride with the team’s work, saying, his students “have a bright future ahead of them and I can’t wait to see what they do next!”
Team member Austin Song said that “M3 Challenge pushed our team to view math through a new lens—one where math was not the problem itself, but a tool used to solve real-world problems. Since we had participated in the challenge during our junior year, we were able to apply what we learned previously, especially the importance of carefully tracking assumptions and variables while considering the many factors that influence a model. Participating in the challenge was valuable because it exposed us to the idea that the real difficulty in mathematics often comes not from solving equations, but from determining how to apply math effectively. As a result, our team became more open to different approaches in problem-solving and gained valuable experience in developing models, a skill that will be useful far beyond this competition.”
The SPARK Runner-up, Noblesville High School (Team #18953) of Noblesville, Indiana, will receive a $2,000 team scholarship, which will be split amongst the team members. The team praised the program, telling M3 Challenge staff, “M3 [Challenge] was a really fun experience that pushed us to think like analysts in the real world. It forced us to learn how to scope a reasonable solution for a complex, multifactorial issue like online gambling’s financial impact.” The team also appreciated that M3 Challenge “taught us that data alone isn’t enough as you have to translate it into stories people can resonate with, like monthly deficit probabilities and meaningful categories that reflect those expected probabilities instead of just annual averages. M3 [Challenge] matters because it forces students to connect modeling to real societal questions. In the end, we discovered that gambling’s harm isn’t uniform, rather it’s concentrated among those who can least afford it, which can change how we think about both policy and personal finance.”
In third place, winning a $1,000 team scholarship to be split amongst the team members, Chippewa Valley High School (Team #18457), from Clinton Township, Michigan is the SPARK Third Place winner. “Being a coach in a math modeling challenge means helping students to see how mathematics works in the real world,” said Coach Irina Pospelova-Mills. She went on to say, “[My] students learned to use math as a tool to understand real-life situations, analyze problems, develop effective solutions, and make meaningful improvements. The M3 challenge helps students build confidence in their abilities, collaborate as a team, think critically, and discover their talents and potential.” Student team member Jenna Kyker found that participating in M3 Challenge was both rewarding and challenging. She said her team “learned how important teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills are when solving a real-world problem. The competition pushed us to think creatively, rely on each other’s ideas, and apply what we have learned in math class to a real-world situation. By the end, we not only strengthened our math and critical thinking skills but gained valuable experience that can help us in the future.”
Congratulations to the 2026 SPARK Award winners!
