On a Sunday morning of October 19, Bergen Academy’s front lobby was unusually crowded. Some 600 students, along with their parents, had traveled from New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut to compete in BCA’s sixth annual Math Competition.
Although the contest is dubbed affectionately the “Little Kids’ Competition” by the organizers, these fourth through eighth graders did not lose their seriousness – some seemed even a bit nervous. Escorted by parents who displayed as much anxiety, the participants seated themselves row by row in the gym as well as in our new first floor cafeteria.
Upon hearing the cue word, “Begin,” the contestants turned over the color-coded tests and began the 90 minutes of torture—or delight. Parents were not allowed in the testing area. Instead, many of them paced back and forth in the hallways, wishing luck to their children who had trained intensively for the competition.
The 90-minute tests consisted of 50 problems of varying difficulties. Even the “math whizzes” who breezed through the first half of the competition found themselves painfully laboring over complicated mathematical concepts that some later problems demanded. The last ten, undoubtedly the most difficult ones, were used to break ties among the top scorers.
This event not only drew numerous elementary and middle school kids from the tri-state area, but also involved a huge number of BCA’s Math Team members. 95 student volunteers, led by the team’s captain Matt Mayers, controlled the crowd of over 1,000 throughout the day. “Matt's forceful troops,” as one of the competitors’ parent had nicknamed them, directed the visitors to the parking lot, moved them through the lengthy registration process, proctored the competition, graded the tests, and announced the winners.
All the problems used in the contest were produced by the Math Team members, who solve competition-type problems almost everyday. “For most of July, I wrote 190 or so problems,” said Mayers, who dedicated an enormous amount of time and effort into organizing this hugely successful event. “And in August, I spent much time writing up solutions to each of the 250 problems.”
Overall, these ambitious young mathletes performed phenomenally. The highest score was a 49 out of 50 (perfect scores are extremely rare). Top ten scorers from each grade level earned various prizes, including calculators, gift certificates to the Art of Problem Solving website, Armenta & Associates’ engraved crystals, and trophies.
Even those who did not qualify for the awards certainly gained something by simply coming out on a Sunday morning. The purpose of the competition was to provide students with an opportunity to participate in a wider variety of math contests. The vast majority of middle school students do not have access to any competitions, other than Mathcounts and AMC 8 – both of which are geared towards higher-level students. Through this school-sponsored competition, the organizers hoped to expose younger students to more diverse and fascinating math problems, and further their passion for math.
“This is a way of making math more attractive to middle school kids,” says Dr. David Ostfeld, the admissions director and a chemistry teacher at BCA. “It makes [math] more interesting.”
Sponsored by BCA’s parent organization Math Boosters Club, the competition also contributed to the school’s reputation. “Parents would recommend the competition to their friends and colleagues, and consequently give the school more publicity,” said Sherry Wu, student assistant coordinator.
The student captain recommends this competition to anyone who enjoys math and wants to explore the next step in pursuing their interest in math. “I think it’s a good experience even if it’s a bit pressuring, because it helps students to put their talent in perspective,” says Mayers. “It shows them that they can solve a variety of interesting problems while still indicating that they have room for improvement.”