While sports have always been a common competitive extracurricular to find at schools around the nation, academic competitions have gained traction much more slowly. Math competitions fall into this category; while classroom math is often tedious, competitions allow high-achieving students a chance to showcase their skills.
Westside’s first math competition hosted over a hundred middle and high school students, providing them an opportunity to test their skills against other motivated people.
While many skilled competitors participated in the competition, some performed better than others. Junior Maxim Karpuk was one of them, placing first in the calculus division.
“The math competition was a great experience,” Karpuk said. “It really came as a shock to me that I got first in the Mu [calculus] division; I came in thinking I was unprepared and ended up in first.”
Many Westside students also helped setup and run the event. Freshman Fayaz Khan believes that the event provided him with a look into the world of competitive math.
“It was a unique event where I found opportunities to be a leader,” Khan said. “I thought it was interesting to see how such a competition is set up and how it runs.”
Senior Sai Nallani, one of the main organizers of the event, was given the opportunity to run the math bowl.
“Being an MC was definitely a highlight—seeing kids scramble to hit the buzzer as fast as possible was funny,” Nallani said.
The excitement of the contestants was evident to all, and Nallani hopes to further competition math throughout the state.
“It was cool seeing a hundred and fifty people across the state come together for a math competition on a Saturday morning,” Nallani said. “It showed me and the entire team at Westside that we have to focus our efforts and make a larger impact.”
With the success of the event, the math team is looking forward to taking some prizes at the upcoming UNL Math Day, as well as to practice some more math.
The future of Westside’s math team is bright. As Nallani puts it:.
“I’m looking forward to what Westside does for Nebraska math in the future.”
