By Hilda Rico Valdez

On April 19 and 20, the Granada Hills Charter Mathletes competed at the Stanford Math Tournament (SMT) against several schools from across the nation. This was their first in-person competition as previous competitions had been online. The SMT tournament was a new experience for the team and a great chance to challenge themselves in a new environment. 

“I really enjoyed the overall experience at the tournament,” Mathlete Coach Ahmet Atay said. “The Stanford campus was impressive and it was a great opportunity to meet other teams from different states. The atmosphere was both intense and fun, which added to the excitement of the competition.”

On their first day at Stanford, the tournament organized a scavenger hunt with clever puzzles, allowing participants to explore the Stanford campus and interact with other Mathletes from various schools. 

The second day at Stanford was competition day, which involved solving rigorous math problems. This required students to recall complex formulas and collaborate with one another to find the right answer. 

“Before each round, we were given 6 sheets of scratch paper, and everything was used,” senior and Mathletes Captain Ayush Singhal said. “The competition was a grueling, chaotic effort, but it was a blast and an incredible experience.”

To prepare for this tournament, the team held weekly meetings every Thursday after school for a month. The team already had some experience from attending previous competitions, like the University of Southern California (USC) and Berkeley Math Tournaments, strengthening their skills beforehand. During these meetings, they’d learn new math formulas and practice past SMT problems. They were difficult questions, but the team overcame them together. 

Weekly, GHC Mathletes also attend several online competitions, known as Math Madness. In this competition, students are allotted 30 minutes to answer 7-8 math problems individually or as a group. This year, the Mathletes have been excelling at them.

GHC Mathletes encourages students to use their critical thinking skills. In a typical math class, students focus on a limited amount of key concepts, so they aren’t able to expand their horizons when it comes to mathematics. This extracurricular provides students an opportunity to challenge themselves with new types of math. Ultimately, it’s a great environment for students who simply love learning about mathematics. 

“It’s an overall fun team where students who are passionate about math can hang out with other students who share the same interest as them, learn from each other, and go further from that,” Atay said.