Monday, October 28, 2013

Montgomery Catholic Math Madness Team Takes on Hawaii

The Montgomery Catholic Math Team recently played the school’s first-ever match against a team in Hawaii. Twelve students, led by juniors Leo Petters and Ann Faulkner, competed to complete math challenge problems against a team from Mililani High School in Mililani, Hawaii. The match is part of the new AMC Math Madness League sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America.

The Math Madness League uses educational gaming software developed by in-ter-stel-lar.com to schedule weekly one-on-one competitions among 600 schools throughout the United States. Montgomery Catholic is one of only three schools in Alabama to be selected for the league’s inaugural season. The team has pitted their math skills against schools in Kansas, Pennsylvania, and-most recently-Hawaii. In coming weeks, they play schools from Oklahoma and California. Each team has 30 minutes to correctly solve ten brain-stomping problems.

Despite some tough losses (3.00 to 2.33 to Mililani, for example) the Montgomery Catholic team is excited about being part of the league. Leo Petters explains, “It’s great to compete with other schools across the nation without having to worry about the bus breaking down.” Teammate Guillermo Ravelo agrees, “I love the opportunity to show schools far away what Alabama schools can do.”

A list of participating schools and current rankings for the AMC Math Madness League may be found at in-ter-stel-lar.com/math_madness/about.

Submitted by Dr. Joe Profio
MCPS Juniors Derek Kelly,Ann Faulkner, and Leo Petters
all participated in the Math Madness League competition.