Competition for your brain: PJC hosts regional math tournament

Home Archived News Competition for your brain: PJC hosts regional math tournament

Lindsey Chavers

Published: January 24, 2006

Having to do math on a weekend, with no calculators, would not even be an option for most people.

But for the 400 high school and middle school students who attended the Region 1 Mu Alpha Theta math tournament at the PJC Milton Campus on Jan. 13, it was a different story.

“I think it is a great way for students to get together as a community and celebrate the true spirit of mathematics,” said Milton High School student Michael Hamel.

It was PJC’s first year hosting the tournament, which consists of an individual test and a team competition. 

“For a first year tournament, it is much more prepared than many others I have been to,” said Julie Soyars of Rickards High School Tallahassee.

“We’re [hosting] it to encourage students to continue studying math,” Dr. Vicki Schell, department head of mathematics, said. “And to make more students aware of PJC and our nice facilities and programs here.”

Students competed in subjects varying in difficulty from Algebra 1 to Calculus. 

“The individual Calculus test was pretty easy, and you can’t get much easier than team competitions,” said Rickards student Weiping Zhang, who placed third overall in Calculus.  “It’s the first competition of the year and it’s about getting people into it.”

Lincoln High School, from Tallahassee, placed first overall, and Rickards was a close second.

“It takes a lot of personnel and preparation,” Schell said.  “You need a lot of volunteers because there is a lot going on at the same time, but I really hope we get to do it again next year.”