The Math Team, led by Mrs. Abston, concluded the year with seven students: Mannu Singh, Bowman Bennett, Krish Patel, Moses Abston, Joseph, Rudransh Patel, and Alex Brown. Together, they practiced in early mornings, competed, and placed second in their most recent competition. Despite their different strengths and contributions, they all share a passion for problem-solving and hope their team can grow.
The team’s schedule starts at 7:00 a.m.;however, members have mixed opinions about this early time. Bowman, junior, said, “I would like it if the meetings were not at seven in the morning; If we could start at 7:30 or something like that, it would allow us to get there on time.” Even with the early start, the members said the morning practices were worth the hassle but they wouldn’t mind an improvement. Many members see a positive difference in their curricular activities, as Mannu, junior, said, “Math competitions help me get exposed to different types of difficult math problems that encourage me to think critically. From this, it helps me apply those critical thinking skills to my advanced math courses such as AP Precalculus and eventually AP Calculus AB.”
Their favorite event this year was the math competition at the University of North Georgia (UNG). It was a clear favorite among the members, who seemed to agree that it offered something different. “I liked waking up early and seeing my friends from the math team; the bus ride for the UNG math competition was really fun along with the experience of meeting teams,” Joseph, junior, said. His fellow classmate, Bowman, said, “UNG was the best place we ever went.” While UNG was the highlight, it was also the only in-person competition the team attended this year. The rest were held in classrooms, which most members agreed lacked the same energy. Moses said, “I wish we got to do more math competitions.” Joseph wished the team had more visibility in the school community, as he said, “I wish there was more support for the math team because there are obviously more math minded people—like the new person.” Mannu appreciated the result of their teamwork and said, “Our whole team got medals through our hard work and communication. It was also nice to go explore a new college campus.” The members share the opinion on the importance of the team’s visibility and hope to attract a more diverse team next year.
The team members contribute in different ways in competitions. Moses mentioned that he does the best at geometry, while Joseph said, “If you give me a formula I would be able to solve it.” Mannu, who favors algebra-based and statistical problems, pointed out the team’s strength lies in their communication and collaboration and said, “Our team’s overall strength is solving algebra and geometry based math problems along with communicating with each other about the steps to get to the answer.” As evidence of the team’s communicative success, they placed second in the Team section of the UNG competition. Krish shared that one of his favorite parts was meeting new people and seeing new kinds of math, often with the pressure of time to motivate you to work quickly through a question.
Looking ahead, the team is hopeful about the new teammate, Alex Brown, who joined just after the last competition of the year. Though he hasn’t competed yet, others already see his potential. “He’s taking my spot—he is gonna help a lot,” Moses said. The team noticed his fast problem-solving skills in the math team practice meetings. Mannu said, “He’s really good at problem-solving at a fast pace… and also will be able to help his other teammates next year.” Alex himself seemed eager to raise the bar, as he said, “We were second place in our last math competition, so I’m hoping with me joining we can get first place so we can participate in state.”
While the math team has grown better and closer through competition, they also want to increase in size, visibility, and diversity. Currently, there are no female students on the math team, and this has not gone unnoticed. The team knows different perspectives can lead to different problem-solving approaches and strengthen their competitive [advantage]. Some members believe the issue is that many students don’t know of the team’s existence. If more people knew what the math competitions were really like and how far the math team has come, they might see it as a place for them too.
Looking toward next year, the team hopes to recruit more members, participate in other in-person competitions, and advance to the state-level competition. With new goals and more people ready to speak up, the math team isn’t just working on solving problems on paper, they are also working on making their space bigger and more inclusive.
