Mathletes start season off ambitious

Team seeks to be competitive

Math+team+supervisor+Kristen+Johnson+talks+with+mathletes+to+prepare+for+their+meet+Nov.+28.+Math+team+meets+every+Monday+after+school.

Charlotte Cox

Math team supervisor Kristen Johnson talks with mathletes to prepare for their meet Nov. 28. Math team meets every Monday after school.

Ivan Zank and Jesse Belen

Every 2-3 weeks, mathletes get to compete and test each other on four main mathematical subjects– algebra, geometry, trigonometry and miscellaneous categories. Math teacher Kristin Johnson said their season lasts four months and started in early October. 

“We start practice at the beginning of October and the season will go through February,” Johnson said. “Our first meet was on November 7.”

According to Johnson, there will only be one meeting this year where they will be in person with other schools. 

Because of busing, we are only going to have one meet where we’re physically with the other schools. That’ll be the last meeting of the year,” Johnson said. 

According to senior captain Ashter Shertok, participation  has increased exponentially from the past year. 

“This year the number of people is skyrocketing. Last year we had around 10 to 15 people. This year we have 25 to 30, but we’re definitely always looking for more people to join,” Shertok said.

Sophomore Julia Lorenzen said the community has an accepting environment. 

“We get snacks for every meet and that’s one of the best parts. It’s just a fun time.” Lorenzen said. “There’s not very many people who aren’t men but despite that, the community still has really good vibes.” 

Shertok also said Park has experienced improvement which is seen through their rank. 

“This season we’ve been a lot better than previous seasons. Usually, SLP ranks 70 to 80th. We just had our first meet on November 7th and we tied for 30th place,” Shertok said.

Johnson said that the math team is very ambitious and gives students an opportunity to explore math that they may not get to in a classroom. 

“The competitive nature of being in the math team is to see how Park compares to the rest of the schools in our division,” Johnson said. “It gives students an opportunity to see some math that they might not see in the classroom, and some of that can be very relevant depending on what your interests are.”

Math team meets in B330 every Monday 3:30-4:30 p.m.