If the Ferrell McClean Math/Science Competition, held April 4 at Foxcroft School, was supposed to give girls a chance to experience the challenge and satisfaction of an academic competition, the day was an absolute success.

If it was meant to fuel friendly competition among three local independent schools – Foxcroft, Highland School and Notre Dame Academy – it was an absolute success.

If it was to show any remaining doubters out there who still think girls "don't get math and science," it was an absolute success.

Mostly, though it was just fun. Anyone wandering the halls of Foxcroft's Schoolhouse Saturday when more than 100 girls competed in a variety of fun and offbeat math, science and engineering challenges could see that.

"This was the first all-girls academic competition I've competed in and it was the best, said Veronica Occhiogrosso of Notre Dame Academy. "It was lots of fun and the challenges were interesting but it was more laid back."

"It wasn't nerdy," added teammate Tess Ferguson.

The competition, which was a Foxcroft-only event in its debut last year, went interscholastic and nearly doubled participation with 22 teams, made up of girls ranging from grades 8 through 12. Competing in teams of three to five girls each, they took on six different challenges. Groups were given 30 minutes for each of the activities, which ranged from "Murder She Wrote," where the girls solved murder situations by logical deduction, and 'A Bridge Too Far," which involved building the strongest 40 cm bridge possible with popsicle sticks and rubber bands, to "Separation Anxiety," a simple Chemistry exercise and "Quick Sand," which took serious logic, math and scientific knowledge.

After all the teams had completed every challenge and everyone had dinner, the top three teams faced off in a "Final Jeopardy" round in FoxHound Auditorium. Those teams were Notre Dame's Team Cranium, composed of Lizz Snow, Iris Son, Kelsey Shevock and Emily Young, and Foxcroft teams Vertex (Ellie Hellman, Amy Ho, Jialin Li and Erica Zhou) and Alpha (Julia Christakos, Lauren Finkbiner, Aalex Hendrickson, Olivia Means and Caroline Turnage).

They were all quick on their feet -- and with the buzzers answering questions in such categories as Chemistry, Geometry and Astronomy. Some were easy and some required a flawless computation along with knowledge of key equations.

Cranium won Jeopardy, thereby taking the overall team title. But Foxcroft took the school championship -- and the biggest trophy – based on point total by the three teams from each school. Foxcroft finished with 66 points to Notre Dame's 48 and Highland's 31.

Cranium also won two of the six individual event titles, as did the Foxcroft Isotope Team of Lida Xu, Charlotte Zhang and Isabel Zheng. Highland's Integral Team and Foxcroft's Beta Team each won one event. Two terrific gift baskets went to Effie Kilmer of Foxcroft and Notre Dame's Son for a combination of brains and luck. They solved problems offered during the breaks in the team competition, earning a chance to be in the raffle for the baskets – and were drawn.

After all the festivities were over, students and faculty moved to Currier Library, where Sandra Song, associate director of Georgia Tech's Women in Engineering Program, spoke about opportunities for women in engineering and the program at Tech, which graduates more female engineers than any other university in the nation.

Math Department Chair Susan Erba and all of Foxcroft's Math and Science teachers worked hard to organize the day. Their colleagues from Highland and Notre Dame were impressed – and have already signed up to bring teams next year!