By contributing writers Ryan Bennett (’28) and Bobbi Sakellariou (’27)

For students interested in math or hoping to gain a little more experience, they may turn toward a club like Math Team. Marty Osterhaudt and Anna Cabral are the advisors for the club this school year and are looking for new students to join. The team meets twice a month on Tuesdays and has competitions every other meeting.

In these meetings, they introduce a variety of difficult problems that may be unfamiliar to some students. Although older students may be more experienced in math and have an advantage over underclassmen, there are plenty of resources available that may help them out. They can receive help from students in different grades and from the teachers. “We’ll put older kids with younger kids so that the older kids will show the younger kids ideas they haven’t seen before,” says Osterhaudt. With this, students can learn new ways of thinking when approaching difficult problems.

Competitions are held at the high school in the large group room. In previous years, the math team competitions were controlled by Onondaga County. Starting this year, the competitions are being held by the New York State Math League. In these competitions, students have 30 minutes to answer six questions that get progressively harder.

Senior captain Peter Drew has been in the club since his freshman year. He recommends this club to “anyone who likes math, but (is) not necessarily good at math.”

Advisors and students in the club highly suggest students join the math team. “They should come, there are no minimum requirements,” said Osterhaudt. Students are able to gain knowledge, friends, and being in the club looks good for college transcripts. The next competition is on October 15, 2024 and students are welcomed to come compete.