Math Team Advances in National Competition

There’s one Wildcat team you likely haven’t seen play this fall, but its more than 30 team members are playing the national circuit in fierce competition. 
Kimball Union’s Math Team is competing with schools from across the country in online competitions through Math Madness. Recently, the team took on San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno, CA and the Wildcats squeaked out a narrow victory with a 25 to 24 final score.
 
“Math Team is having a great year,” says Math Teacher and Coach Beth Gilmartin. The team competed in four meets so far this fall, with two wins and two losses. They now head to Round 2 of bracket competition for the 2020 AreteLabs/AMC Math Madness Division IID National Championships. The semester-long event is modeled in part after the NCAA March Madness Basketball Tournament.
 
“We’re doing everything online this year, which gives us the opportunity to be more inclusive, work with KUA students in distance learning, and ultimately have a much larger team than in past years,” says Team Captain Jingbang ’21.
 
“I feel like it’s a great way to occupy my free time and, as a result I feel a lot more confident in my math classes,” agrees Kate ’22, who joined the team this year. One of the benefits of math team she says is the additional incentive to study the subject. The team typically competes on weekends and trains using practice problems in its free time.
 
Kate and Jingbang agree that Math Team provides a unique space for students who are interested in math and problem-solving to show off their skills and to “shine,” but Kate also plans to leverage her skills beyond high school. “Math Team is important because it sharpens skills for the future too,” she says. “For students who are interested in fields like biotech, computer science, and engineering, Math Team gives us a chance to connect with our future goals.”
 
The Math Team continues in bracket play this week with a match against J.R. Masterman High School in Philadelphia.

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