Scoreboard of the Math Competition in Danvers. Photo taken by Thomas Snarsky.
The Malden High Math Club is off to a great start for the 2019-2020 season. The group was brought back after a few years by a senior last year, due to the old advisor of the club moving schools. The Math Club is in its second year of this current version. The club meets every Tuesday, and now competes every month.
Last year the group was not able to attend many competitions due to registration deadlines, but this year they are a part of the Massachusetts Mathematics League. Thomas Snarsky believes that “[they are] really hitting the competitive circuit from day one.” Snarsky has been teaching for five years at Malden High and took over the role as the new advisor for this club.
Since the club now competes every month, each Tuesday meeting mainly consists of practicing problems and other preparation techniques. They also practice math puzzles or recreational problems when a competition is not coming up. They placed second in both of their most recent competitions. Most of what they do is group problem solving to hopefully result in a first place win this year.
Anybody can join this club, although they strongly encourage underclassmen, ninth and tenth graders, to attend. In order to get standings in their league, they need at least two underclassmen, and no more than four seniors to join. Snarsky states that “even if you are not perfect or able to do all of the categories, your contribution is really valuable.”
This club had started off as a small group who solved problems together. They only participated in competitions occasionally. They are now more focused on a local league, consisting of other schools as well, who compete in individual and team competitions.
Snarsky claims that one of the biggest goals they have is to win first place in a competition. Not only that, but he thinks that another goal would be to “introduce more individual and team competitions,” and to re-establish older competitions such as the Tufts competition they competed in the previous year.
As a member of the club since December of 2018, President Jacky Luong has always been interested in math. Luong and his friends think that this math team is ideal for those who have the same interest for mathematics as they do. He believes this team allows people to “explore different ways of thinking,” and to come together to do problems as a group.
This group also does individual competitions to see how they would score against people at Malden High and throughout the United States, or even the World. A student reached the top 25% last year in America in a competition called the American Math Campetition, which Snarsky described as “pretty prestigious.”
Malden High’s Math Team also has a google classroom to which they post updates about the club. The Math Team’s classroom code is 6jqnsqz. Anyone is welcome to join.
