Association for Women in Math hosts Elementary Invitational

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Seniors Rosa Wu, Angelina Wu and Jennifer Chiou, co-Presidents and Vice President of Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), hosted their first All-Girls Elementary Invitational Saturday, Dec. 17. With an estimated 70 students from around 30 schools, girls and gender minorities gathered in the Upper School Library to compete for the top five places in their respective grades.

Originally, the idea to start the chapter came from a Heritage graduate and former Math competition team member, Christina Zhang. Female participation has long been a problem in competitive math, and COVID only catalyzed this issue due to the lack of connection between teammates. In an effort to resolve the problem, last year, Rosa Wu and Christina Zhang decided to start their own AWM chapter at school. AWM is a professional society that aims to promote equal opportunity and treatment of women in mathematics.“We wanted to rebuild a loving community to encourage everyone to actively pursue mathematics, especially women and gender minorities,” said co-President Rosa Wu.

The competition included 30 question multiple choice tests written by AWM officers, including several word-problems about Heritage’s own math competition students. The concepts tested include addition, multiplication, basic geometry, pre-algebra, ratios, percentages and basic probability. The competition welcomed third, fourth and fifth grade students to compete. Out of all the students, 15 took home a win.

Third grade:

  1. Zoey Ge (Everglades Elementary)
  2. Maahi Ardeshana (Manatee Bay Elementary)
  3. Kiara Gupta  (American Heritage Broward)
  4. Juliana Cristea (American Heritage Broward)
  5. Yanrong Zhuang (Morikami Park Elementary)

Fourth grade:

  1. Ada Zeng (Saint Andrew’s School)
  2. Talia Crazover (American Heritage Broward)
  3. Sanya Arora (American Heritage Broward)
  4. Shaina Topper (American Heritage Palm Beach)
  5. Madison Waddington (American Heritage Broward)

Fifth grade:

  1. Alba Li (American Heritage Broward)
  2. Malliki Pillai (American Heritage Palm Beach)
  3. Ashnia Bhatia (American Heritage Broward)
  4. Tang Li (Sunset Elementary)
  5. Katie Li (Water’s Edge Elementary)

Fourth grader Ada Zeng finished with the highest score of the competition with 146 points. 

While there were only 15 top places available, AWM also held six raffles so that randomly selected students could win and take home a squishmallow plush toy. “We wanted to make everyone feel appreciated and encouraged, even if they didn’t place,” said Chiou. “In the end, everyone also left the competition with a goodie bag made by our officers and volunteers.”

Although the co-Presidents and Vice President are all seniors, they have lots of hope for the AWM chapter to continue for years to come. “We hope to continue providing opportunities for gender minorities in math including researching applicable scholarships, programs and resources” co-President Angelina Wu explained. “We’d like to offer a place where everyone feels accepted in the mathematics world.”

With such a successful competition, AWM hopes to make this elementary invitational an annual occurrence. (Photos/AWM officers and volunteers)

This is Lauren’s second year on the staff. She enjoys playing Papa’s Sushiria, taking naps and writing whatever’s on her mind. She’s excited to make this year the best one yet and have an awesome entertainment section.