Mark your calendars and save the date for an exciting day of mathematical competition on December 11th! Next Wednesday, the YHS math team will make their way to Biddeford to compete in six rounds of riveting arithmetic for a chance to reclaim their status as reigning champions. The team had an explosive start to the season with a first place finish at Marshwood followed by a third place finish at Traip. They hope to make up lost ground at Biddeford by mastering this meet’s topics; probability, exponents and radicals, geometry with polygons, complex numbers, and arithmetic with percent. While challenging, the concepts have proven manageable to this year’s elite roster.
The team consists of six mathletes from the junior and senior classes. From the junior class, there is Brady Holmes, Zane Chumsae, Finnegan Convery, Callan Noonan, Christopher Dimino, and Rhett Geranis. From the senior class, Chase Dolan is the sole competitor. The team meets every Tuesday after school in Ms. Jovanavich’s room to strategize practice problems and simulate the conditions of a real meet. Of course, practices are not all business, as Ms. J provides the team with food and beverage to keep spirits up. The work can be tricky, but each team member works to ensure that everyone understands the concept and can apply it individually. Going into this meet, there are a few key strategies at play.
One strategy is to do the first two problems on each individual round and check them over. This ensures that these answers are correct and will contribute towards the team’s total points. As for the third problem, mathletes should attempt it if time remains and have confidence in the previous two answers. This is because the third problem is often the most difficult and laborious. By answering the first two correctly and attempting the third one, competitors secure guaranteed points and leave the door open to score on the last problem. Another strategy is to utilize the calculator in the fifth round, since it is the only individual round where a calculator is allowed. Students often forget this, and leave their calculators off to the side, completing long division and multiplication in the margins of their papers. This time, everyone will try and remember to save time by using the calculator. Finally, the YHS math team often struggles on the team round. So, this time, the team will be divvying up problems at the start of the round and checking each others’ answers halfway through. While these are just some pieces that go into a successful competition, there is so much more to the YHS math team.
The meet is not just about competition, but encouraging a collaborative learning environment between intellectually curious students and celebrating the accomplishments of young mathematicians. It is no small feat to practice math after school every week and take a bus to another school to compete every month. These students sacrifice their time and put it into representing York in the Maine Math League. So, show your support by cheering on the math team and promoting it to your friends. No matter the outcome of this meet, it is important that these mathletes feel supported.
Going into the December 11th meet, the YHS math team hopes to take home another podium finish with hours of practice under their belt. Additionally, many on the team vye for the first place spot to ward over other nearby times until the next meet. From the team, they say that they will try their best and represent York in this niche means of competition. Go York Math Team!
