One of the most competitive intellectual activities at our school is Mathletes. This year, our school has a very good team of Mathletes, which has won 1st place in two competitions and 2nd place at Conference.

The 40-some members are dedicated to the club. They have to attend one meeting every week as well as all of the competitions. Mr. Valiska is in charge, and Ms. Fischer and Ms. Haston help out. The highlight of the club are the competitions. At every competition you get free pizza.

Tanya Wisemen, a sophomore in Mathletes, says that it is a fun club if you like math and want a club without too many scheduled events on the calendar. 

At Conference on Wednesday, we won second place and also did very well on the oral rounds. 

So how do competitions work? 

Conferences happen once a month during the first semester. Five schools compete against each other in three rounds. At competitions, everyone is separated by grade. One round is the group round, while the other two are individual rounds. There is also an oral round that takes up the time of two other rounds. 

For individual competitions there are 10 questions, and students get points by answering the questions correctly. Each question is worth a different number of points, depending on how difficult it is. In the end, all of the points from each school are added together to determine who won.

Oral competitions are quite difficult. Four people from each school are chosen, and they are given material to study beforehand. After they get the question, they have 20 minutes to prepare, and then they have to present to the judges.

Special Recognition:

People get special recognition when they achieve a perfect 10. A perfect 10 is when someone gets all of the questions right in an individual round.

The people who have gotten perfect 10s so far this year are (not including Conference):

Mariam Abu Tayeh, Tristan Bagnara (x4, all competitions so far), Monica Venancio (x2), Andrew Abraham, Peyton Crotty, Tyler Burnes (x2,), Omar Qubtan (x2), Angelo Valentine, Ian Doll (x2,), Gerardo Sierra (x2), Armeiah Girgis, Selah Mabe, Abby Visser, Aaron Mabe, Tanya Wiseman