Math League - Bailey Cote

Mount Abraham has numerous extra actives that people are aware of, like sports and the fall musical. Not many people know about the Math League team. Math League is an extra academic activity that counts as a challenge credit. The Math League is a small group of students in grades 9-12. Mrs. Fitz-Gerald would love for more people, especially girls, to come out for the team since there are not tryouts. “If you like cookies and if you like math, then Math League is for you.” The practices for the Math League are very flexible for students who do other extra activities. Ms. Fitz-Gerald said, “Math League is a good place to meet other students and extend your math knowledge.”

There are currently eight students in the Mt. Abe Math League: Greg Scott, James Buchwald, Adam Rainville, Andrew Rainville, Spencer Griswold, Kenny Micklas, Amanda Wetter, and Mishelle Nomchin. “This year was a lot of fun. Even though we may not have been the most competitive team, we were able to have some great meets! As a senior looking back, I am glad I participated in Math League with some great people.”- Greg Scott. To be in Math League, the students need to be in Intergraded 2 math or higher. Ms. Fitz-Gerald likes to have about 8-12 people on the team, so everyone gets a chance to try different types of math. Vermont has eleven Math League teams from Division one and two schools: Mt. Abe, CVU, South Burlington, Burlington, Essex, Rice, Mount Mansfield, Colchester, St. Albans, Missisquoi, and Mount Abe’s rival team, Vergennes. The Mount Abe team placed about 8th overall for the season. This year, the team reached two of their important goals. One goal was to hit 6th place, and the second goal was that they would score over one hundred points at a meet.

The Math League season normally runs from about October to March. During this time, the team will travel five times for competitions. During a competition there are four different individual events: Arithmetic, Geometry, Algebra, and Advanced Math. A team event consists of five students working together on a longer set of problems. There is also a relay style event. This is where one student solves a problem and their answer is part of the second students’ problem. That answer is then given to the last player to work with. Each problem has a certain amount of points and if a team gets the problem correct, that team will get the points. All of the students get to try all of these different types of problems.

All of the students on the team have worked hard and had fun this year. The Math League season has recently come to a close and with that, there are a few seniors that will be leaving the team. Mrs. Fitz-Gerald hopes that more people will come out for the team and show their love for math.