ORLANDO, Fla. – Fourth graders from across Orange County will do some heavy number-crunching on Thursday at the 2026 Orange County Public Schools Math Bee Invitational.
News 6 anchor Ginger Gadsden is hosting the event at St. Luke’s Founder’s Hall in Orlando. The event starts at 10:30 a.m., and News 6 will stream the event live on the player above.
OCPS says nearly 2,800 students from 34 schools participated in the math bee, with 527 making it to their school finals and 34 making it to the regional finals.
Fourteen students will compete in Thursday’s final.
Aside from shiny trophies, there are cash prizes. First place gets $1,000, second place gets $400, and the third-place runner-up gets $200.
The runner-up received $250, and third place netted $100.
The math bee started at Pineloch Elementary in 2011 in five classrooms with over 100 students. After a few years of expansion, the first Go Full STEAM Orange County Math Bee Invitational was held in May 2015 with seven participating schools.
The 2026 event is the 16th year of the math bee and the 11th GFS OCPS Math Bee Invitational.
The Fourth Grade Math Bee Invitational was developed by Go Full STEAM in cooperation with Orange County Public Schools to create excitement for mathematics and encourage students to consider careers in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math)-related fields and to see the importance of mathematics in their personal lives and future careers.
For more information about Go Full STEAM, visit gofullsteam.org.
[WATCH: Isaiah Edouard wins 2025 Orange County Math Bee]