Although they may not be overly talked about around school, the Math Team is a dedicated club that meets every week to practice for local monthly math competitions.

During club meetings, the core members eat cookies, practice and discuss math problems, and look over previous competition tests. During a competition, they will need to be able to do these problems on their own in one part and in groups in the second section. During the group part of the competition, the Blanchet math team breaks up into groups of three, which need to have students of three different grades. It is not extremely formal, and often Blanchet students will partner with other schools to form teams.

“The total score is the individual scores plus the group score,” said Helen Wu, a senior member. “There were lots of schools last competition… I joined another group from the other school and it was really fun to work with them.”

Their last competition, in Burlington-Edison on November 9th, saw both Wu and sophomore Peter He reach the top ten in individual scores. He was surprised to rank so highly.

“Anyone can come,” said coach Laura Salle, “don’t assume that you’re not good enough at math that you can’t be a part of the team. We don’t want people to be intimidated by it.”

Wu seconded Salle’s enthusiasm for joining the team.

“I joined the math team because I like doing challenging problems and discussing problems with people,” said Wu. “It’s really fun to work together as a group. It’s also exciting to compete with the time [limit].”

The December 7 competition was canceled due to weather; their next competition is scheduled for January 11.

The Math Team meets on Wednesdays in room 310 and encourages interested students to drop by.