Throughout the school year, members of the MHS Math League sit for six math contests from the New Jersey Math League. Students individually have 30 minutes to solve six problems, which require “outside the box thinking” utilizing skills learned in the math classroom. In early May, MHS finished first in Essex County and under the leadership of advisor, Dana Rubin placed in the NJ top ten of competing schools for the 17th consecutive year. It is astonishing to Rubin how many students come to math league, knowing his members are so busy with other clubs, sports, and outside commitments.
Most recently, Math League students competed in the first annual Monmouth University Mathematics Contest, tying for first place with two other schools. Additionally, Danica Stout (below left) and Xavier Adebona (below right) finished second overall in the individual round out of 510 students.
On May 22, the Math League, along with students from 10 middle schools, competed in the Essex County Math League hosted by Caldwell University. At this event, individual exams are offered in Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Advanced Math, Calculus and Statistics. Each school brings five students for each subject exam and these scores are used to determine rankings in each of these math categories. We had incredible performances at this event with four out of our six subjects reaching the Top 3 in the County:
• For the first time in the history of this competition, Montclair High School upset Livingston and Millburn in Calculus, where they finished first.
Team Calculus was comprised of Asha Giancaspro, Abraham Kirschner, Leo Kondic, Jack Lebiedzinski, and Zoe Moon. Abraham Kirschner had the top individual score in Calculus making him the second individual in MHS history to finish number one in Calculus.
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Team Statistics finishing third was comprised of Tyler Drangula, Aleksander Hube, Jonah Khersonsky, Danica Stout, and Maya Tjia. Stout made MHS history receiving the top individual score in Statistics.
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Team Algebra II finishing third was comprised of Xavier Adebona, Oz Axelrod, Charlotte King, Julia McCafferty, and Benjamin Tillis.
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Team Geometry finishing third was comprised of our middle school students: Cassandra Anderson, Naomi Anya Amin, Rodolfo Escobar, Sasha Kolbe, and Bradley Sherman.
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Team Advanced Math finished fourth (missing third place by two points) and was comprised of Rafi Baird, Henry Brackenbury, Sol Demefack, Phelan Haberle, and John Murphy. Demefack had the second highest individual score in Advanced Math.
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Team Algebra I finishing fourth (missing third by 1 point) was comprised of our middle school students: Amelia Catanach, Ben Cohen-Vigdor, Olivia Ngo, Ina Prodan, Claire Washington.
Rubin inspires his AP Calculus BC students throughout the year and the day before the AP Exam by stating, “You don’t need to be the best one, you just need to be the right one.” On May 22, the Calculus team was not only the “right one,” but also the best one.
