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71 high school students divided by 16 teams equals Nicholls State University’s Mach 5 high school math competition.
“I like the excitement of the competition – the students really get into it,” said Dr. Brian Heck, Nicholls associate professor of mathematics and faculty advisor of the college’s math club. “They make up their own cheers. I’m happy with the turnout. I didn’t think students would be into this kind of competition.”
This is the fifth consecutive year that the school and club have hosted the event named Mach – the “ma” stands for math and the “ch” stands for challenge.
“The Nicholls math club has been around off and on for the last 30 years. This chapter is about five years old,” Heck said “The student who was president in 2002 wanted to start a team competition for high school students, so we began this event.”
Students can compete in teams of up to four participants, but the entries had one team of two and one team of three.
“This year’s event was the largest so far,” Heck said. “The test covers algebra, geometry, calculus and advanced math. There are 20 questions on the test, and the team must answer 15 of them. They must answer at least two from each group, and the team is allowed to collaborate on the test.”
Heck writes the test himself and gets ideas and input from other math faculty members. “It is lots of works to plan and organize,” he said.
Hanson Memorial High School students Landen Pillaro and Ben Boudon were up to the challenge, being the only two-member team at the event. “We sort of got nominated, volunteered to compete in the event,” Pillaro, a senior, said, laughing. “I’m here for the advanced stuff, like calculus.”
According to the duo, this was the first school math competition they had been to in many years. Their school does not have a have a math club.
“I think the competition is fun,” Boudon, a junior who plans to study computer programming when he attends college, said. “I see all the patterns easily.”
Boudon’s mathematical eye not only brought him to the Mach 5 event, but also helped him earn the school’s highest math score on the American College Test by a junior this year.
“We will work together,” said Pillaro, who plans to athletic training and video editing when he attends college in the fall. “I’ll solve the more advanced stuff, and Ben will do the general math problems.”
Other high schools that participated in the event were West St. Mary, Centerville, South Lafourche, Berwick, Science & Math Academy, Morgan City, Hahnville, Vandebilt Catholic, Destrehan, St. Amant, Lutcher, East St. John, Central Lafourche, and H.L. Bourgeois, and schools were allowed to send more than one team.
“Lots of kids say that the test is not what they expected, that the problems are more complex than they thought they would be,” said Kristi Calvaruso, Nicholls junior sociology major and president of the math club. “This is not a regular test. They always love it and want to compete again. The schools that come have come every year that we have had the competition.” Calvaruso has been a member of the math club for three years.
“This was the first club I ever joined at Nicholls,” Calvaruso said as students armed themselves with pencils, piles of scratch paper and calculators. “It’s a funny story. My first class in college was a math class, and my teacher mentioned that the club would be handing out cookies at their first meeting. I went for the free cookies and fell in love with the club. I have always been very good at math, and I love the subject. Math is universal. I’m dyslexic, and English was not my forte. My favorite form of math is algebra, and geometry is my least favorite.”
According to Calvaruso, there are about 13 to 15 official members of the Nicholls math club. “We meet each week,” she said. “We plan to the host event again next year.”
This year’s winners were Hahnville, which took first, and Destrehan placed second and Vandebilt landed third.
Kristen Alevizon, left, Stephen Doiron, Tristan Bagala, and Chase Doiron, all of Vandebilt Catholic High School, compete in the MACH 5 math competition at Nicholls State University. The school placed third in the event.
