By Kayla Samimi
Staff Writer
Costa’s Math Club participated in their first competition held by the Bay Math League on Oct 22 at West Torrance High School. Eight selected Math Club members competed against 15 other high school teams from across the South Bay.
During the first part of the competition, each team was given an assessment to complete and the top five high schools were ranked based upon their scores. During the individual portion, each individual was required to take three tests on either Geometry, Alg 2/Trig, Pre Calculus, Calculus, or Statistics.
“I definitely had fun at the competition because there were many more talented math students out there that inspired me to do better,” Math Club Vice President Sophomore Michelle Lu said. “It made me feel proud that I was representing my school while I was doing something I love.”
Due to schedule inconveniences, many members were unable to attend the first competition. Instead of competing with ten members as per usual, Costa only had eight members for the competition.
“For our next competition, I hope that we will have more members participate,” Lu said. “That way, we would be able to do better and score in the top five schools.”
At the end of the competition, Arcadia High School received the highest team score. Out of all the Costa students who took the individual assessment, Sophomore Andrew Liu received the top score.
“I didn’t expect to get one of the high scores among Costa students and I was proud at myself for achieving scholarly excellence,” Liu said.
Last year, math club was unable to meet due to teacher negotiations but this year, Juniors Anna O’Connor and Cathy Miao decided to restart it. The club is a place where students can practice math and compete in a variety of math competitions. In the course of a school year, there are four Bay Math League Competitions.
“Participating in math competitions and doing other math-related activities outside of required classes has always seemed really interesting,” Miao said. “By hosting a math club, I am able to provide that opportunity to others.”
In order to prepare for the competition, Math Club members met every week to study a variety of topics. On Oct 21, AP Statistics teacher Dan Debevec lectured the students about Measures of Center and Spread.
“The tests offered at the Bay Math League competitions are usually three problems per topic, which students have 10 minutes to complete,” O’Connor said. “As a result, our goal is to help our club members become both quick and precise at answering a variety of math questions for the competitions.”
The club still has three more competitions left in the school year. The next competition will take place on Dec 3 at San Marino High School. The other two competitions will be held on Feb 11 at Long Beach Poly High School and April 15 at South Torrance High School.
“I look forward to our next competition and hope to do well,” Junior Tanner Yamada said. “I think that Costa will score highly, especially if we practice hard in the next two months.”
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