Math Club. The words conjure up a scene of a classroom filled with serious, studious students who only think about numbers and theories.
However, during a typical club meeting, it’s apparent that math club members actually aren’t that different from their peers. During club announcements, students chatter in the background and club president, sophomore Adrian Sanborn doesn’t even bother to go to the front of the class to give announcements. If there is anything that all of the members share, it’s enjoying the intellectual stimulus, without taking it too seriously.
"Math rocks like Donkey Kong," junior club member Andy Spangler said.
According to Sanborn, the purpose of the Math Club is to promote the enjoyment and learning of math through competition. Suzanne Antink and Ellie Slack, both math teachers, advise the club, acing as resources. They copy worksheets and demonstrate approaches to problems. The students make the decisions and Sanborn relays the information to the advisors. "All of the students are leaders," Antink said.
The defining element of Math Club is the contest it holds and that its members participate in. One of the most significant contests is the American Mathematics Contest 10/12 (AMC 10/12), which every honors student takes. The AMC 12 is for grades 12 and below, while the AMC 10 is for grades 10 and below. Participants with the top scores go on to take the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME), a three-hour test. The next round is the United States of America Mathematics Olympiad (USAMO), a six-problem, nine-hour contest. After that is the competition for the cream of the crop, the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO). The IMO features a six-person team of high school students that competes in an intense two-day competition including problems that would challenge most professional mathematicians.
Other contests include the Santa Clara University High School Mathematics Contest (SCUHSMC), the Bay Area Math Olympiad (BAMO), and the Mad Hatter Contest, where students are invited to take both a speed and regular math test at their level. A few math club members also participate in the USA Math Talent Search, which is a five-problem contest that students have a month or more to work on at home. The test is based on the honor system and well-written solutions are expected.
The Annual Team Math Contest (ATM) is annually held by the club at the beginning of the year as a way for students of different math levels to work together. "The ATM attracted about 60 people [besides the original club members]," Sanborn said.
There are 20-30 people in the club and according to Antink, the Math Club doesn’t feel a need to advertise. Most of the student body has heard of the club, and when contests occur, people come and join in. Occasionally, the top results of math contests even get printed in local newspapers.
Even without any exposure from the press, the math club has guaranteed attendance, since the people who come are a tight group of friends who all enjoy math.
"I’m here because I enjoy it," Sanborn said.