Math Team Goes to Harvard

On Friday, Nov. 11, Greenhill will be sending six students from the math team to compete in the Harvard MIT Math Tournament in Boston, Massachusetts.

HMMT is a two-day tournament with many different events and competitions. This competition consists of four rounds. Two of those are team rounds, and the other two are individual.

The math team is looking to have a strong performance to kick off their return to away competitions for the year.

“I think it’s just a really different experience because it’s at a different level than anything else we’ve ever done as a club and I think it’s a really nice growth opportunity for us to see what the height of a math competition can look like,” said senior Nikitha Thoduguli.

It was not easy to select a group to compete in this tournament because around 20 to 30 students wanted to join the team, but HMMT only allows each school to take up to six students. Rather than being solely an extension of students who are a part of the math club, the team is open to anyone who is interested in math in the Upper School.

“We had more than six people interested in being in our Greenhill team, and so we had to have tryouts,” said Director of Service Learning & Community Engagement and US math teacher Jessica Chu. “We had tryouts and then the top six scores ended up being our team.”

While the math teams do spend a lot of time together during school and at various math competitions, they have never been together for straight 48 hours.

While all of the members of the team are really looking forward to this new learning experience, there are still some nervous feelings among the team.

“I think the other aspect of it is like, I have only really been involved with those people exclusively through math, so it’ll be interesting to see what we’re all like, I guess together on a 48 hour trip,” said Thoduguli. “I am a little looking forward to team bonding and a little big looking forward to a challenge.”

The team is leaving Dallas Friday morning and returning from Boston Sunday afternoon. They will be missing all the HMMT’s events on Sunday because of flight competitions.

“I am looking forward to trying and finding out everyone’s strengths because there are a lot of different math problems …. and I tend to be more of an algebraic person and break down stuff and find equations, but my friend is more geometry and finds shapes and whatnot,” said junior Dibyadeep Saha. “I think it will also be a great bong experience for sure.”

Already this week, the math team has participated in two competitions, so their preparations for this competition have been limited.  Even with these complications, Chu has no doubts they will do great in the competitions. Not only is she looking forward to watching the team use their math skills, she is also excited for them to see Boston and travel together.

“I’m excited for the kids to just enjoy Boston,” said Chu. “When I brought other students there, they liked going to the different school campus stores and buying paraphernalia, so I think it will be fun in that sense.”

The math team has been a great way for students to create deep connections with other people who share their same interest.

“Because we all love math so much and are so passionate about it, [the competition] really allows you to find like-minded people, and really bond with something you love,” said Saha.