Heritage dominates at Math State Convention among 31 other schools

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Math competition students traveled to Orlando and competed in the Florida Association for Mu Alpha Theta (FAMAT) state convention, among 31 other schools, April 18-20.

Students participated in math competitions such as Math Madness, Florida Math League and the American Math Competition (AMC) before entering the regular competition season. Having gone through diagnostics and weekly testing, as well as cumulative practice in their classrooms and outside of school, 64 students across all three divisions, Mu (calculus), Alpha (precalculus) and Theta (geometry, algebra) were selected to compete at the state competition.

Starting off with the Theta division, a few top performers emerged. Freshmen Jonathan Shwartz, Kayla Wang, Shreyas Baghel and Sanvi Pandya placed in the top 10 for the Theta Applications of Algebra test. In Theta Equations and Inequalities, Pandya, Wang, freshman Ellie Kong and freshman Bennett Ortiz placed in the top 10. Ortiz, along with freshmen Krishang Thakker, Anthony Rodriguez and Maximus Callis placed in the top 10 in Theta Functions. Rodriguez, Thakker, Schawrtz and freshmen Anika Mishra and Devesh Kumaresh placed in the top 10 for Theta Logarithms and Exponents. Freshmen Kyra Movva and Meng Lin placed in Theta Quadrilaterals, while Lin, Movva, and freshmen Lauren Lee, Alexandra Greenberg and Julia Diez placed in Theta Geometry.

For the Alpha precalculus division, the division with the last Heritage students competing, the competitors also placed very well . For Alpha Equations and Inequalities, sophomore Elizabeth Xiao was the only one in the top 10. Following with Alpha Applications, sophomores Aaron Alter and Daniel Cai placed. For Alpha Analytic Geometry, sophomore Kaitlyn Lee placed in the top 10. Xiao placed first in Alpha Complex Numbers, followed by freshman Jacob Khohayting. Khohoyating and Cai additionally placed in Alpha Trigonometry as sophomores Angelina Lin and Lee placed in Alpha Matrices and Vectors.

The Mu division, which deals with calculus topics, did very well. Sophomore Darsh Patel, who competes in the highest division (Mu), was accepted to the Mathematical Olympiad Program (MOP) after his score on the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad  (USAMO) test qualified him. This three-week intensive program for the top 60 students in the nation aims to prepare them for the International Mathematics Olympics, held in Bath, England (IMO). 

For Mu Applications and Mu Area and Volume, junior Junsouh Hong and senior Romir Mohan placed in the top 10. Seniors Nicholas Darosa and Joseph Wang, alongside sophomore Patel, placed in the top 10 for Mu Integration. Patel won Mu Limits and Derivatives with senior Sydney Lee placing as well. Likewise, in Mu Sequences and Series, junior Yusuf Sheikh won, with senior William Li and junior Timothy Kong placing in the top 10. To conclude, Darosa and Sheikh placed in Mu BC Calculus. 

Heritage placed second overall, which now serves as motivation for the students to improve before the national convention. After the final award ceremony, Dr. Santos, a sponsor and coach for the math students, shared a motivational speech in celebration of the students’ achievements; mathematics teacher Mr. Ariew spoke on what he saw and experienced at the convention; alumnus Trevor Birenbaum, a big supporter of the school’s math team, finished up by talking to the students. “We care about you and we want you to want this victory,” Mr. Birenbaum said. As a motivational goal, he encouraged the students to watch the video from the previous year in which Heritage was announced as the state champions and relive that memory every time they sat down to practice.

Mr. Birenbaum flew all the way from Los Angeles to support the students. He spoke to the math team after the final award ceremony. “It genuinely touches me emotionally to see how beautiful this is,” Mr. Birenbaum said, referring to how close the math team is when it comes to supporting each other through each round of testing. (Photo/Alina Sukhovskaya)

Alongside their victories, the math team also celebrated sophomore Kaitlyn Lee’s 16th birthday April 20. “It felt like a family celebration. It was really nice to have a lot of my close friends there to celebrate my birthday and the moment was really special,” Lee said. As Mr. Ariew lit up the candles, the students’ voices surrounded Lee with a warm “Happy Birthday” song. (Photo/Alina Sukhovskaya)

Alina, a rising sophomore at American Heritage, is looking forward to her first year on the Patriot Post. Apart from reporting, she’s very involved in the arts and can often be found creating a new painting in her free time. Alina enjoys ballroom dancing, music, fashion, literature, and mathematics as she is a part of the math competition team, the National English Honor Society, and the National Art Honor Society. Nevertheless, her recent discovery of her passion for journalism has inspired her to capture the rhythm of life at American Heritage this coming year.