As clubs bustle with activity in the second quarter of the school year, the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) prepares to carry out a tradition set in stone by alumni Rosa Wu, former president of AWM as well as Mu Alpha Theta (MAO), the school’s math competition club.
Wu organized an all-girl elementary school math competition called the Elementary Invitational. This competition is open to all elementary students but is focused on the representation of women in mathematics. Wu got funding from the National MAO Organization in 2022, her senior year, situating it as one of the main projects of AWM during the first half of the year. The organization provided a grant which made it possible to order trophies, prizes in the form of squishmallows, and goodie bags for the elementary students.
This year, the competition, held Dec. 16, 2023, is organized by seniors Vishaka Joshi and Sydney Lee, who are the co-presidents of AWM “[This year] instead of having a grant, we have funding from the Lower School. Compared to the previous year, AWM is making huge strides in a positive direction. During the event last year, the club ran into some technical difficulties, as the library became too cramped. “[This year] we also have the student center, so it’s a much bigger area to work with,” Lee said.
AWM has additionally tried to make the competition available to all of Broward county, reaching out to neighboring schools in hopes of even more involvement than last year. This year, it is open to grades third through fifth, with one standardized test for all. “The whole purpose is more of a celebration of mathematics, and we didn’t want to make it too competitive,” Joshi said. In preparation for the competition, AWM has held bake sales and fundraisers, which includes selling plushies at the Homecoming tailgate. “The ICC representative told me about the opportunity and we figured it’d be a really fun tradition to just try selling at the tailgate again,” Lee said.
Joshi and Lee plan to focus on expanding the club as much as possible in order to offer more people a chance to learn and help gender minorities grow in mathematics. The two presidents strive to leave a legacy of growth in this community.
“We would like to grow this club as much as possible in our final year,” Lee said.
