Five of Bellevue’s brightest math students took an international competition by storm, placing in some of the top spots.

The Open Window School students competed in the Mathematical Kangaroo competition, a massive event with more than six million students participating representing more than 50 countries and grades 1 through 12.

Two sixth graders, Bailey Wagner and Luke Hallam, earned fourth and eighth places in the nation and first and third places in Washington. Two fifth graders, Isaac Blanchard and Will Randazzo earned 15th and 19th in the country respectively.

Math Kangaroo is a 75-minute multiple choice exam that takes place the third Thursday in March each year and is a competition that began in Australia in the 1980s.

Open Window Math Coordinator and Teacher Elena von Naumann offered the opportunity to compete in the contest, and 25 students came in the evening, after Parent-Teacher conferences were over to sit for the exam.

Open Window School is a K-8 independent school in Bellevue. Founded in 1983 to provide an educational environment specially designed for gifted learners, Open Window is a school “For Gifted Kids Who Love to Learn.” The learning environment provides a challenging academic curriculum blended with nurturing support from teachers that prepares students for long-term success.

According to Carolyn Lucas, director of communications for the school, said the Math Kangaroo award recipients were honored at a middle school assembly but they are “already moving on to the next exciting problem, how to lash the ribs on the hull of the kayak they are building in their applied mathematics class.”