MATH TEAM 2006

Melanie Allen

John Barnett

James Bascle

Eryn Bernardy

Sam Brotherton (Calculus MVP; ARML; GHP, State team member)

Justin Carlin

Daniel Chen (PreCal MVP)

Raymond Clunie

Jim Creager

Katie Dugan

Allyse Keel

Nayoon Kim (ARML, State team member)

Kayla Koch (Mu Alpha Theta President) Amy Kovac

Jacob Kovac

Amy Lanchester (GHP; ARML, State team member)

Julie Leber

Salman Makhani

Will Martin

Julie Matthews (Mu Alpha Theta Secretary)

Kathryn Moore

Ryan Moore

Sophia Newton

Lacy Reynolds

Steven Rouk

Britt Schneider

Tyler Sigwald

Michaela Simoes

Layla Bouzoubaa

Kevin Brawley

Rachael Ceciliani

Kathryn Daniel

Nika Daryooni

Josh Hayward

Jonathan Johnson

Tyler Kelly

Katie Koch (Geometry MVP)

Mei Lin

Rochelle Lobo

Bianca Marks

Kevin Masters

David McCalley (Algebra MVP)

Nikita Mehra

Justin Morris

Patti Murphy

Bijal Patel

Kunal Patel

Chris Robuck

Carmilia Todman

One of the strengths of the Rockdale Magnet Math Team is the depth of talent. Many math teams around the state seem to be carried by one or two fantastic individuals with the rest of team filled up with not-so-fantastic talent. We are different. We have a few amazing people on math team, but we have at least five times as many great people, any one of whom is capable of rising to the challenge. Put together a four-person team, and we have the ability to create multiple winning combinations of talented people. The 2005-2006 school year was no exception.

You may notice as you read through this year’s accomplishments below that the roster of attendance is quite different at each tournament. Certainly, Jonathan Wysolovski, Amy Lanchester, Sam Brotherton, and Nayoon Kim are amazing mathematical talents, but look closely and you’ll see them aided by a rotation of wonderfully adept students: James Bascle, Amy Kovac, Kayla Koch, Raymond Clunie, Daniel Chen, Lacy Reynolds, and Steven Rouk, just to name a few. This year’s team was deep, and to be able to draw upon many talents kept us competitive in an increasingly competitive tournament atmosphere (even if the class of 2005 arrogantly claimed that Math Team was “gonna die without us”).

Even this year’s JV team had depth of talent. Most were 9th graders that had never been on a math team before. But they too were mathematically gifted and showed great promise for the future of Math Team.

Although the new group of Math Team members showed great promise, sometimes it was hard to tell. After the conclusion of the Cherokee County Invitational in February, the organizers of that tournament had lots of snack left over. As we were leaving after the awards ceremony, the students were eyeing the food, when the tournament director said, “Why don’t you take some food home with you?” Judging by the reaction of the students, one would have thought they had been fasting for a fortnight! They descended upon the snack table with such ferocity that they frightened passersby. And one of them managed to sneak an entire cake onto the bus for the ride back!

One of the best trophies to receive is the unexpected one. The Georgia Tech tournament in March 2006 was a perfect example. The GT Tournament has three main components: a written multiple-choice test, ciphering, and then, after the announcement of the semi-finalists, the semi-finalists take a another proof-based test. The GT tournament is difficult and long -- including registration and awards, one spends eleven hours on the campus. The test that morning did not go well. The competitors from Rockdale as well as other schools were complaining loudly about how difficult that test was. Of the 25 questions, we discovered that answering 12 correctly was a good score! The ciphering was next -- which was a little easier -- and then lunch. After a grueling morning in which the students felt completely beaten, most (that weren’t semi-finalists) went home after lunch. The afternoon for the semi-finalists was similarly disheartening. However, those of us that stayed for the awards were in for a surprise: we were completely shocked to learn that we placed in the top 5!