Orefield and Springhouse middle schools are among the 28 middle, intermediate and junior high schools from four counties sending 175 students to compete in the 33rd annual Lehigh Valley MATHCOUNTS® Feb. 11.

The event will take place at Southern Lehigh High School, 5800 Main St., Center Valley. Snow date is Feb. 12.

Students will take written tests 9:15 to 11:45 a.m. in the gymnasium. The top 10 scoring students will face off in the Countdown Round, a “Jeopardy” style oral competition, 1 p.m. in the school auditorium.

Organized by the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the PA Society of Professional Engineers for students in Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, and Monroe counties, the event is one of about 20 Pennsylvania competitions. Regional winners advance to the state competition March 10 and 11 held in Harrisburg.

Students and coaches devote many after school hours to prepare for what some have called the “Olympics of Math.” The 2017 National MATHCOUNTS® Competition will take place in Orlando, Fla. May 14 to 15 with Raytheon Corporation as the title sponsor. Nationwide approximately 40,000 students, representing more than 5,500 schools will participate in the 2017 MATHCOUNTS® Competition.

Other Lehigh County schools include: Eyer and Lower Macungie middle schools, Harrison Morton Middle School; Joseph P. Liberati Intermediate School; St. Michael the Archangel School; St. Thomas More School; Southern Lehigh Middle School; St. Ann School; St. Joseph the Worker School; St. Theresa School; The Swain School and Trexler Middle School.

Prizes at the Lehigh Valley competition include scholarships for math and/or science courses at Cedar Crest College, Moravian College, Lafayette College, Lehigh Carbon Community College and Northampton County Community College.

MATHCOUNTS®, a program of the National Society of Professional Engineers, is a math enrichment, coaching and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement in every U.S. state and territory to provide today’s students with the foundation for success in science, technology, engineering or mathematics careers.