On April 13th, a few select students from ACP Erie attended the Math League High School State Championship at Marana High School in Tucson, Arizona. The Math League is a prestigious math competition for various elementary, middle, and high school students in Canada, the U.S., and other countries. The group of students from Erie consisted of Stevie Ortiz (8), Dean Brasen (8), Jason Gong (10), Kristin Myer (10), and Taman Truong (11). Kristin Myer, who placed seventh in her category at the competition, has been kind enough to tell us a little about the championship from her perspective. Here’s what she had to say about it:

Q: What was the math competition for?

A: This math competition, or the Math League High School State Championship, was for identifying students who are qualified to compete in the Math League Nationals

Q:  What division/area did you compete in?

A: I competed in the High School Sophomore Division  against sophomores in all math levels across Arizona.

Q: How many other schools were involved?

A: There were over 22 other schools involved.

Q:  Based off of your experience, what did you think about the competition?

A: I thought the competition was an interesting experience, but everyone was definitely exhausted afterward. There were five different rounds (Power, Sprint, Target Team, and Relay) which amounted to about four hours of math problems. I felt surprised that I placed since I made a lot of guesses.

Q: Can you describe the competition to me? 

A: The competition was crowded, and a lot of people seemed to be cramming in last-minute formula/math review. It was an interesting but tiring experience!

Q: Who else was at the competition, and where did they place?

A: I placed seventh in the Sophomore Division. Other award winners were as follows:
-Taman Truong, 4th place (11th grade division)
-Jason Gong, 4th place (10th grade division)
-Dean Brasen, 3rd place (8th grade division)
-Stevie Ortiz, 2nd place (8th grade division)

Since ACP won 3rd place in the school-wide competition, the entire team qualified for nationals. The top 10 winners at each level also qualify.

A huge thank you to Kristin for taking the time to answer these questions for us and give us a deeper insight to the world of math competitions! And of course, congratulations to Kristin and the rest of the mathletes on placing well in their respective divisions!