The varsity math team competed against 28 schools at Massachusetts Association of Mathematics Leagues (MAML) States at Doherty High School for the second year in a row on March 27, with sophomore Leonardo Deng placing first out of 206 students.
As a team, Algonquin ranked ninth out of 15 teams in the large school division. At States, students competed in individual rounds and a team round. Although this is only the second time the team has competed at States, they have qualified in previous years but were unable to attend due to a lack of interest, as a minimum of eight students is necessary to compete.
Recently, the team has seen an increase in interested students compared with previous years.
“The last two years, we’ve even needed tryouts to see who would make the team, which is really nice,” Varsity math team coach and math teacher Gwenevere Fazio said.
The team covers a variety of mathematical disciplines, such as number theory, trigonometry and geometry. They meet every Tuesday before school, where they work on problems from previous meets, but studying and preparation is not exclusive to team practices.
“A lot of students actually do a lot of prep outside of just the team on their own, which is awesome,” Fazio said.
Students often share different online materials, such as Google Docs, Quizlets and study guides to help each other study. However, success ultimately depends on practice. In particular, Deng studies for 20-30 hours depending on the week.
“I just do a lot of problems,” Deng said. “A lot of it is understanding the concepts, understanding the intuition behind formulas and being able to do problems at a glance.”
Beyond studying, Deng also supports teammates and helps them succeed. He often helps explain problems and their solutions.
“Leo’s been putting a lot of time and effort in, which has been awesome,” Fazio said. “This year especially he’s stepped up and kind of taken on a captain role.”
Throughout the year, the team of students have also performed strongly at the other competitions. For instance, Deng ranked first in the Worcester County Mathematics League (WOCOMAL) with a perfect score of 72 out of 72. At WOCOMAL meets, each student participates in three out of five total rounds. Not only was Deng the only student to receive a perfect score, but his quality points, determined by round difficulty, are the highest as well. Other students perform strongly in other competitions as well.
“[Junior Sulaimaan Khan] was a top scorer last year and this year for NEML, which is really impressive,” Fazio said.
Despite the students’ successes, the team lacks funding and cannot afford buses to travel to meets. As such, parents must drive or coordinate carpools.
“I’m very thankful to all the parents for making it worth it by driving back and forth, so that we are able to be competitive and earn prizes for the students that deserve them,” Fazio said.
The parents’ support allows the team to foster a community and passion for math.
“Math team has been a great experience for me,” sophomore Brianna Xin said. “I’ve gotten to know so many new people, and it’s been really fun collaborating with them to solve different kinds of problems.”
