By offering Math Club and Mathletes and taking students to math competitions, the mathematics department at Warsaw Community High School is helping its students improve.
"It's improving the problem-solving skills of students who choose to participate," said Alan Clark, math department chair.
"It meets the needs of students who want a challenge," said teacher Amanda Taylor.
Some of the problems students face in the competitions, said Clark, may not be something the students have learned in the classroom.
Math Club was started this year. Teacher Chuck Wiebe said it gives students who enjoy math the opportunity to come together and solve challenging problems.
Taylor said it's open to all students. The club meets twice a month after school for an hour. Wiebe said the numbers vary, but the club usually has eight to 10 members.
Many members, Wiebe said, are students who go to competitions.
"We're trying to give them exposure to problems they have not seen in the classroom before," he said.
Senior Zac Erba and sophomores Andrew Cox and Alek Jansen competed Nov. 13 at the 45th annual Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Mathematics Contest. There were 400 students from Indiana who took part. Erba tied for ninth among seniors, and Jansen tied for eighth among all sophomores.
"The test itself was pretty challenging," Erba conceded.
"It was difficult," agreed Cox.
They had one hour to answer 20 questions. Erba said only two or three of the questions really stumped them. They couldn't use a calculator, Jansen said, and the questions contained advanced algebra and geometry questions.
"It's not stuff you'd learn in general education classes," said Erba.
Erba and Jansen said they both made some "dumb mistakes" that cost them from placing higher. Erba said there are students who train for the yearly Rose-Hulman competition.
Erba and Jansen also were two of the students who took part at Huntington University's yearly high school math competition in October.
That competition, Jansen said, consisted of 20 written questions that they had 40 minutes to complete. Then there was 10 speed problems they had to finish in 90 seconds each.
Additionally, said senior Grace Bagshaw, there was a team exercise. Teams had five problems to solve in 15 minutes.
"I thought it was hard," she said.
"It was definitely harder than the middle school one (last year), and there was math I haven't even taken yet," said freshman Grant Carlson.
Erba said there was 12 teams that competed, with four people on each team plus alternates. Jansen and Carlson had taken part in the Huntington competition before.
"I seem to remember more calculus on this one," said Jansen.
The WCHS team placed fourth. Bagshaw said the teams that placed first through third all had the top individual scorers as well.
"We learned we have a lot to learn," said Bagshaw.
"I just thought it was a good learning experience to get us acquainted with the math competitions," said Erba.
Mathletes meets once a month for competition, said junior Liesl Schroedl. Any WCHS can go to it and get extra credit in math, she said, but she hopes some people go for the pure enjoyment of math.Alan Clark, math department chair, said Mathletes had 314 students participate Tuesday. Twelve faculty members volunteered to oversee the rooms. The record was 329 last December, said teacher Charlie Wappes.
"We should top that in December," said Clark.
Freshman Jeffrey Holt said participants have 30 minutes to complete six questions.
Last year, according to Wappes, Jansen had the highest score with 27. Warsaw also tied for eighth in Indiana, out of 44 schools. Forty-five schools are taking part this year.
Wappes said Mathletes meets once a month from October to March. Each month, the Indiana Mathematics League sends out a report including each school's score, cumulative score and highest individual scores.
This year's two contests so far, Jansen said, were challenging.
"The first was pretty easy, the second was challenging," according to Smolen.
Holt said the questions were not suppose to be beyond Algebra II, but he thought some of them were.
"It's nice to figure out one of those tougher ones," said Smolen.
Students at Warsaw who enjoy mathematics also can take part in the Math Academic Super Bowl, which takes place in the spring. Wappes co-coaches the team with Barb McCollom. There were six members on the team last year.
Last year, WCHS placed third in the area in the big school class. Warsaw also hosts its own invitational and participates in the NLC and area meets.
The theme for the Academic Super Bowl this year is Latin America. The Math Academic Super Bowl includes 32 percent algebra, 32 percent geometry, 28 percent calculus and 8 percent history. The history portion covers Mesoamerican Numeration Systems and Calendar.
