Montini Catholic's Mathletes prepare for upcoming invitational
Members of Montini Catholic's Math Team competed (remotely) on Saturday, Jan. 16, in the third and final Catholic Math League meet of the year.
“The morning began with a 50 minute individual competition,” said Math Team coach and Math Department Chair, Mrs. Chrissie McManus. “Our top scorers were Heather Sledzinski, Audrey Kekstadt, Alex Silveyra, and Sam Hemmersmeier.”
The team then competed in an eight-person competition and a calculator competition.
“We used this meet as preparation for the Lemont Invitational and MTA Invitational in February,” said McManus. This year, scores are not being compared to other schools since some have been unable to field full teams due to remote learning.
“Although there have been fewer competitions and the format is quite different than what we are used to, we are very happy to be able to get together and compete,” adds McManus. “We have a strong core group of students that spans all four grade levels and hope to entice more participants via their enthusiasm for mathematics!”
The Catholic Math League meets are utilized by Math Teams throughout the country as practice for the regional meet in February.
The national math competition was started in 1997 and currently serves hundreds of schools. The goal is to develop test taking skills in participating students when they take achievement tests and college entrance exams.
Montini Catholic's Math Team includes 60-plus members annually and is the only Catholic school in Division 2A to qualify for state every year since 2001. Unfortunately, the season was cut short when the 2020 State Meet was cancelled last May due to the coronavirus shutdown.
Montini Catholic is holding all Catholic Math League South remotely due to strict COVID-19 regulations.
Students gather at their own high school for the competition (coaches also have the flexibility to have the students compete from home). Montini Catholic is not comparing scores currently at these meets, but is using these meets as practice for the statewide regional competition.
For information, visit www.montini.org.