On Monday November 1st the South High math team kicked off the competition season with their first tournament at Patrick Henry. They finished third overall, a strong start considering that the team is young with many new members.
Math team, like sports teams, practices and then competes against other schools. Practice is every Monday after school for an hour. The team competes in five tournaments each season.
Sophomore Rachel Stiyer, a new addition to the team this year, is enjoying it a lot so far, “the people are very nice and I’m learning new math tricks. Plus, we get to eat snacks!” Besides this most students receive extra credit in their respective math classes from participating on the team. Anyone can participate regardless of math level or program at south.
In practice each week they prepare for competitions by working through problems used in previous years.
“We are also provided the opportunity to try out topics that we normally do not compete” said Stiyer, “Our coach, Mr. Winnes, also gives us packets containing a few useful tricks and sample problems we might encounter during the meet.”
The first meet provided an opportunity for the new members on the team to get a feel for competitions, their format and style. Stiyer thinks the season looks promising, the team knows what to expect now at competitions. The team is also putting a lot of effort in at practice to improve. Despite the third place finish Stiyer says “My expectations remain high!”