Clarke Central High School senior and Math Club Member Noah Kilpatrick stands outside the CCHS Ceremonial Entrance on Oct. 17. In preparation for the University of Georgia High School Math Tournament on Oct. 25, the Math Club has practiced atypical problems, which Kilpatrick found helpful in a variety of areas. “(Math Club has) that fun atmosphere. It’s not school math, it’s more problem solving. (The questions are) something that you’ve never seen before, and you have to be able to use your problem solving skills to do it,” Kilpatrick said. “We try and teach how to approach a new problem and solve it, so that’s useful not just for math, (but) for a bunch of other fields.” Photo by Isabella Gresham
The CCHS Math Club will compete in the UGA High School Math Tournament on Oct. 25 at the Zell B. Miller Learning Center.
The Clarke Central High School Math Club will compete in the University of Georgia High School Math Tournament on Oct. 25 from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. at UGA.
During the competition, the team will engage in a ciphering round with fast-paced questions, a written test and a team round with longer word problems. In preparation for the competition, CCHS seniors Jefferson Slutzky and Noah Kilpatrick have taken on leadership roles after a shift in club sponsorship to CCHS math department teacher Mallory Thomas.
“(Math Club is) in an interesting phase because we previously had a more established club, but our adviser, (CCHS special education department teacher John Walker), had to go work on other clubs because he was managing so many different things,” Kilpatrick said. “So, a couple seniors got together to find (Thomas) to sponsor the club for us. (Now, my role includes a lot of) mentorship, leading the meetings and trying to get stuff planned.”
“I think the team is going to do really well. (It is) pretty well prepared. It’s our first time with this newer team, so it’ll be just getting used to that, but I think we’ll have a good, strong showing.”
— Noah Kilpatrick,
CCHS Math Club member and senior
To get ready for the competition, the club practices previous exam questions, studies formulas and topics they are unfamiliar with every Thursday morning at 8 a.m. in Room 106.
“(Competitions) can be stressful, but I enjoy the chance to think about math and logic problems,” Slutzky said. “(The competitions have) made me better at math. (They have) given me a chance to practice algebra and arithmetic, thinking through math quickly and widening how I think about a problem.”
With the Math Club including at least two new members who have not previously competed, Kilpatrick is looking forward to the team’s outcome against other high schools, despite not being able to attend this competition. Each competitor will answer 25 questions in the individual section, aiming to answer as many correct as possible.
“Getting to work as a team will be really good,” Kilpatrick said. “I think the team is going to do really well. (It is) pretty well prepared. It’s our first time with this newer team, so it’ll be just getting used to that, but I think we’ll have a good, strong showing.”
