The competition team of the Math Club at Palo Alto High School achieved 10th place overall at the Berkeley Math Tournament earlier this month, and according to math teacher and club advisor Randolph Mercado, this is their best placement in recent years.
Mercado said the team has never been focused on the win but rather on dedication and teamwork.
“They [club members] spend at least an hour and a half after school with me every week, just doing problems,” Mercado said. “Really, I’m prouder of the work that they’re putting in than any places that they’re getting.”
Andrew Wen, a junior on the math team, said the improvement in placement is a reflection of the effort the team has put in.
“Last year, we didn’t make top 10, we were top 20,” Wen said. “But this year, we started practicing more, and we’re going to continue to do that, so we continue to improve.”
According to president of the Math Club and senior Tony Chung, he believes that the team is only going up from here.
“This year we got more people [entered into the tournament] because we registered really early,” Chung said. ” And by winning this competition, I think we’re definitely on an upward trajectory, especially since we have really smart freshmen this year.”
Wen said that he also felt that the team had really come together and made great improvement in team spirit.
“We met after school once a week and practiced as a team, it really helped us improve our teamwork since teammates can help each other figure out problems that you probably can’t figure out yourself,” Wen said. “We were pretty surprised [when we won] because Paly usually doesn’t win these things, and we were just pretty excited.”
According to Mercado, the win was a great achievement, showing how hard work leads to positive outcomes.
“I’m happy that they’re finding success, but I’m happier that they’re committed this year to just getting some practice and doing some math,” Mercado said.
The team is competing next Jan. 27 in the Caltech Math Meet at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.
