A homeschooler from Orcutt, Ana Schwab, won the Central Coast Chapter Math Counts competition for middle schools and is headed to the state finals in Irvine on March 5. The 13-year-old (pictured with her chapter coordinator, Leonard Wall, a professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo) entered as an individual. The winning team was San Luis Obispo County’s Laguna Middle School. The Santa Barbara and Ventura chapter of the 25-year-old organization will hold its competition February 23. Fourteen schools are expected to participate, ranging from the tiny Family School to all three of the large public campuses–Santa Barbara Junior High, Goleta Junior High, and La Colina Junior High. Winners at the state level will proceed to the Lockheed Martin National Competition in Denver. Math Counts is sponsored in part by the California Society of Professional Engineers Educational Foundation.