Hurrah for Math Competitions!

The week before February break was amazing. My students took the American Math Competition. I was a little afraid of turnout because it is completely voluntary but the day of the exam, 38 students showed up. I was excited to see the turn out but a little disappointed that two of my previous high scorers didn't attend. I guess I can't have everything.

Last year, one student of mine qualified for the USA Math Olympiad. This year, he beat his AMC score by a few points. I have a new student who I thought might be near the same level. He ended up outscoring my student from last year. I couldn't believe it. I am thrilled to have two students who are exceptionally gifted in mathematics. We are looking ahead to the AIME's with anticipation!

To top my week off, I was going through my mail and I had some information about Moody's Mega Math Challenge. On a whim, I brought it to the math team meeting to see if some of the boys might interested. Boy, was I wrong. They were ecstatic to be able to spend fourteen hours on one problem! They started working out who would be on the team and immediately got online to start researching the competition. Since then, they have been studying statistics in their spare time and trying to do anything else they can think of to prepare. I did nothing but show them a couple of pieces of paper. How did I manage to create such monsters? I must be doing something right.