MATH TEAM 2013

A Remarkable Year

CAPTAIN
CAMERON EASLEY (Mu Alpha Theta President, State team member)

LIEUTENANTS

HEEYOON KIM (State team member, ARML, Varsity MVP)

ANIKA REZA (Mu Alpha Theta Vice-President, Advanced Math MVP)

BRIAN SILVA

VARSITY TEAM MEMBERS

Gedeion Addisu

Ishmael Ahmed

Indi Brown

Rob Bruton

Carmen Candal (Mu Alpha Theta Secretary)

Briana Cowles

Brandon Culver

Chris Dasilva

Johnathan Davis (Math Team Scholarship winner)

Jovan Deas

Kellie Fair

Jahvan Innerarity

Jasmine Johnson

Shoman Kasbekar

Gabe Kustick

Stein Lobo

Alex Mann

Jason Mitchell (State team member, Calculus MVP, ARML)

Clare Morganelli

Kaleb Ponder

Collin Shamley

Anna Grace Slifko

Andrew Smith

Lamisa Syed

Lindsey Theodore

Zach York (GHP)

JUNIOR VARSITY TEAM MEMBERS

Abenet Addisu

Jeff Bang

Sidney Billingsly

Dominic Dixon

Jaire Duncan

Ray Garner (Precalculus MVP)

Ashley Hong

Ansley Kaiser

Samah Khan

Jeremy Rachels (State team member, JV MVP, ARML)

Naomi Siddiquee (Math II MVP)

Samer Yassin

Michelle Zhang

The 2012-2013 school year will go down in the Math Team’s history as one of the busiest years ever! We attended a total of 19 math tournaments around the southeast, and cemented our reputation as the premier math team in the state by once again winning the state math tournament!

We started off the school year with the desire to make an impression. To that end, we introduced the new math team “football” jerseys. Each student got to pick their own number (including mathematical symbols) for the back of the jersey. These we a big hit with everyone!

ABOVE and BELOW: The team sporting the new jerseys at the UGA Math Tournament, October 20, 2012. Left to right, front row: Alex Mann, Lamisa Syed, Brian Silva, Heeyoon Kim, Jahvan Innerarity, Jeremy Rachels. Left to right, back row: Brandon Culver, Jason Mitchell, Zach York, Lindsey Theodore, Briana Cowles.

The first tournament of each school year is the North Fulton Invitational. The Varsity team has never done well at this tournament. So when the Varsity team placed second this year, it gave us the feeling that this year was going to be a great one!

The next tournament was the first-ever Newton County Math Quiz Bowl. It was so unorganized it was funny. The questions were so easy and so many people tied for first that they ran out of medals and certificates! This was a very unique experience.

The next tournaments were held on the same day, UGA and Luella. Thanks to Ms. Alesia Mickle, who took the group to Luella, the Math Team was able to attend both tournaments. At UGA, the group did well, with Alex Mann coming from nowhere to place in the top 20! If only the team answered that last team round question correctly...

The 8th Rockdale Mathematics Competition was held on October 27th, 2012. It was the first RMC in which Jonathan Johnson was not in attendance (either as a participant or student or emcee)! Everyone on the math team helped to make sure the event ran smoothly. The number of teams a school could send was cut to just one six-person team due to space considerations. This didn’t seem to damage our attendance numbers however! The team and individual winners were...

Middle School: Chamblee Middle; Chenthuran Abeyakaran, Chamblee

Junior Varsity: Vestavia Hills; Lin Lin Pan,

Vestavia Varsity: Columbus High; Mike Wang, GSMST

The Lassiter tournament was notable... for the sick beats pounded out by the team on the cafeteria tables while waiting for the awards to start. Other teams eventually joined in to create a sonic masterpiece!

The final tournament in 2012 was the Vestavia tournament. Crammed into Garner’s car, Garner, Heeyoon, Jeremy, Jason, and Brian traveled to Birmingham. After checking into the hotel, the group went to find supper. They decided on a Jim ‘n’ Nicks BBQ restaurant. This is mentioned because the boys on the team are notoriously frugal; they asked for more of the free rolls before they left so they had food to eat back in the hotel room. Although the team did better (in terms of raw points) than any previous Rockdale Magnet team, they did not place high enough to earn a trophy. Garner blames himself for that, since he forgot to obtain a Monster energy drink for Brian before the tournament.

The first tournament of 2013 was at Georgia Southwestern. Heeyoon and Jeremy tied with perfect scores, but the organizers put them through a tie-breaker round, which Jeremy won. But even bigger news was that four years of Math Team paid off for Briana Cowles: she nearly earned a medal due to her best performance ever at a math tournament!

The team hard at work at the Georgia Southwestern State University tournament, January 19, 2013.

The first place team at the Georgia Southwestern Math Tournament, January 19, 2013. Left to right: Paul Yates, Brian Silva, Briana Cowles, Ray Garner, Heeyoon Kim, Alex Mann, Michelle Zhang, Jeremy Rachels.

We continued the tradition started last year with the 2nd annual Rockdale County Middle School Tournament. Once again, Davis Middle won, but Andrew Bonar from Memorial was the individual winner.

For the second time, two tournaments were scheduled for the same day: Creekview and Armstrong. For the second time, Ms. Mickle stepped in to take the group to Creekview. But here, the Math Team made history: The Rockdale Magnet Math Team placed FIRST in two tournaments on the same day!

The Armstrong Atlantic tournament includes a “fun” relay round, where the winning team gets a prize. This year Heeyoon, Brian, Zach, and Jason won the relay and received a prize. The prize was some kind of Nerf slingshot airplane. So they spent time during the awards ceremony putting it together, and then afterwards, on the way back to the bus, Brian proceed to shoot the planes in the air... which then landed on the roof of the Armstrong campus security building, to be lost forever. ;(

For the first time ever, we attended the College of Charleston Math Meet. This was not like other math tournaments: it was comprised of multiple events (similar to Science Olympiad). Everyone thought it was great fun even though it rained the whole time!

The fourth place team at the Georgia Tech Math Tournament, March 9, 2013. Left to right: Heeyoon Kim (holding her individual trophy), Lamisa Syed, Alex Mann, Jeremy Rachels, Dr. Garner, Brian Silva.

Heeyoon Kim displaying her awards at the Georgia Tech Math Tournament, March 9, 2013.

The first place team at the Middle Georgia State College Math Olympics, March 15, 2013. Top row, left to right: Michelle Zhang, Brian Silva, Paul Kim, Alex Mann, Heeyoon Kim, Zach York, Jason Mitchell. Middle row, left to right: Ray Garner, Lindsey Theodore, Lamisa Syed, Ashley Robbins, Jasmine Johnson. Bottom Row, left to right: Naomi Siddiquee, Sidney Billingsley, Jeff Bang, Ruslan Babkin.

The top three individual winners at the Middle Georgia State College Math Olympics, March 15, 2013. Heeyoon Kim, Brian Silva, and Zach York.

The second place JV team at the Middle Georgia State College Math Olympics, March 15, 2013. Left to right: Ruslan Babkin, Jeff Bang, Naomi Siddiquee, Sidney Billingsley.

The third place Varsity team at the Middle Georgia State College Math Olympics, March 15, 2013. Left to right: Jasmine Johnson, Paul Kim, Zach York, Lamisa Syed.

The first place team at the Furman University Math Tournament, March 16, 2013. Left to right: Heeyoon Kim, Brian Silva, Alex Mann, Jason Mitchell.

Jeremy Rachels displaying his first place trophy at the Greater Atlanta Christian School Math Tournament, March 16, 2013.

We attended the Walton Math Fest for the first time this year, with some of the team members taking on challenge of the “super-varsity” test.

We also returned to the Clemson Calculus Challenge. Waiting for the awards was intense: we had to leave on time so that some students could make it back to Conyers in time for the Superintendent’s Honor Awards that evening. And of course, the awards ceremony was running late. At one point, Alex demanded that we skip the awards so we could make back in time. But Dr. Garner thought it would be wise to stay. However we did agree to leave after the awards for our division were announced and to skip out on the rest. It is a good thing we stayed, because we got lots of awards! On the way out, Garner asked for the teams complete results, which he didn’t have time to read until running back to our cars. The results revealed that the team not only was first in our division, but placed first overall!

This was a good omen for the sate tournament, where we regained our overall state championship title, and Jeremy became the individual champion.

And of course all the good results from the competitions carried over into good results on the contests: we were once again state champions on the Georgia Math League contest; southeast U.S. champs on the Atlantic-Pacific Contest; and second place in the southeast U.S. on the Mandelbrot Contest (our best finish ever). We also participated in the Mu Alpha Theta Log 1 Contest for the first time, where we placed third overall in our multi-state region, with Jeremy placing first! For the team’s efforts, Mu Alpha Theta awarded our team a check for 100e dollars (that’s 100 times the number e, or about $271.82).

This year, we had dedicated team members who worked very hard to excel at mathematics, and it paid off with one of our best years ever. Thanks to Alex Mann who worked diligently to be the best; thanks to Brian Silva whose intuition is amazing; thanks to Jahvan Innerarity, Brandon Culver, Jason Mitchell, and Zach York for always giving it their best; thanks to Briana Cowles for quietly becoming one of the strongest members of the team; thanks for Heeyoon Kim, Lindsey Theodore, and Lamisa Syed for demonstrating how well four years of dedication pays off; thanks to Paul Yates and Paul Kim who joined only this year, but were as motivated as the veterans; and thanks to Jeremy Rachels, Michelle Zhang, Ray Garner, Ashley Robbins, and Aqib Momin who were dedicated juniors and who will create the core of next year’s team.

The first place team and the first place school at the Clemson Calculus Challenge, April 22, 2013. Front Row, Left to right: Brian Silva and Zach York. Back Row, Left to Right: Paul Kim, Brandon Culver, Alex Mann, Jason Mitchell, Jahvan Innerarity, and Paul Yates.

Below you will find our record of placements at the tournaments the Math Team attended that school year. Team awards are listed first, with individual awards listed after the team member’s name.

September 29, 2012, North Fulton Invitational, Alpharetta.

13th place JV team: Ruslan Babkin, Jeff Bang, Tahmeed Hossain, Carlan Ivey, Michaella Ivie, Naomi Siddiquee, Daja Walker.

2nd place Varsity team: Indi Brown, Briana Cowles, Brandon Culver, Ray Garner, Jahvan Innerarity, Heeyoon Kim (3rd place), Bethany Mays, Jason Mitchell, Jeremy Rachels, Brian Silva, Lamisa Syed, Lindsey Theodore, Zach York, Michelle Zhang.

October 13, 2012, Newton High School Math Quiz Bowl, Covington.

5th place JV team: Michaella Ivie, Mai Nguyen.

2nd place Varsity team: Brandon Culver, Ray Garner, Jahvan Innerarity, Heeyoon Kim (1st place-tie), Jeremy Rachels (1st place-tie), Brian Silva (1st place-tie), Lamisa Syed (2nd place), Michelle Zhang (3rd place).

October 20, 2012, University of Georgia Mathematics Tournament, Athens.

9th place team: Brandon Culver, Briana Cowles, Jahvan Innerarity, Heeyoon Kim (21st place), Alex Mann (18th place), Jason Mitchell, Jeremy Rachels (20th place), Brian Silva, Lamisa Syed, Lindsey Theodore, Zach York, Michelle Zhang.

October 20, 2012, Luella High School Invitational, Locust Grove.

10th place JV team: Sammie Addisu, Ruslan Babkin, Jeff Bang, Tahmeed Hossain, Tessel Huggins, Michaella Ivie, Joslyn King, Rajuan Nelson, Naomi Siddiquee, Natalie Smith, Daja Walker.

14th place Varsity team: Abenet Addisu, Dominic Dixon, Ray Garner, Samah Khan, Bethany Mays, Koi Riley, Collin Shamley.

November 10, 2012, Mercer University Mathematics Tournament, Macon.

2nd place team: Ray Garner, Jahvan Innerarity, Paul Kim, Jason Mitchell (2nd place ciphering), Jeremy Rachels (2nd place and 4th place ciphering), Brian Silva, Paul Yates, Zach York

December 1, 2012, Lassiter High School Invitational Math Tournament, Marietta.

19th place JV team: Ruslan Babkin, Jeff Bang, Carlan Ivey, Naomi Siddiquee.

5th place Varsity team: Briana Cowles, Brandom Culver, Jahvan Innerarity, Heeyoon Kim (6th place), Alex Mann, Jason Mitchell, Brian Silva, Zach York.

December 8, 2012, Vestavia Hills High School Mathematics Competition, Vestavia Hills.

6th place Comprehensive team: Heeyoon Kim, Jason Mitchell, Jeremy Rachels (14th place), Brian Silva.

January 19, 2013, Georgia Southwestern State University Mathematics Tournament, Americus.

1st place 6A team: Briana Cowles, Ray Garner, Heeyoon Kim (2nd place), Alex Mann (3rd place), Jeremy Rachels (1st place), Brian Silva, Paul Yates, Michelle Zhang.

February 5, 2013, AMC

School winner, AMC10A: Ruslan Babkin

School winner, AMC12A: Jeremy Rachels

February 16, 2013, Creekview High School’s Saint Valentine’s Day Mathacre, Canton.

1st place Varsity team: Briana Cowles, Ray Garner, Alex Mann (2nd place), Bethany Mays, Aqib Momin, Jeremy Rachels (1st place), Ashley Robbins, Michelle Zhang.

12th place JV team: Sidney Billingsly, Ashley Hong, Tahmeed Hossain.

February 16, 2013, Armstrong Atlantic State University Mathematics Tournament, Savannah.

1st place Varsity team: Heeyoon Kim (7th place), Jason Mitchell (3rd place), Brian Silva (4th place), Zach York. 3rd place team: Indi Brown, Brandon Culver, Jahvan Innerarity, Lindsey Theodore.

4th place JV team: Ruslan Babkin, Jeff Bang, Carlan Ivey, Naomi Siddiquee.

February 20, 2013, AMC

School winner, AMC10B: Jeff Bang

School winner, AMC12B: Alex Mann

February 23, 2013, College of Charleston Math Meet, Charleston, South Carolina.

1st place trigonometry timed sprint: Jeremy Rachels, Brian Silva

2nd place relay: Briana Cowles, Jason Mitchell, Jeremy Rachels, Brian Silva

1st place Brainstorm (team round): Briana Cowles, Jason Mitchell, Jeremy Rachels, Brian Silva

3rd place Varsity team: Briana Cowles, Jason Mitchell, Jeremy Rachels (Honorable Mention), Brian Silva

March 1, 2013, University of West Georgia Math Day, Carrollton.

2nd place school: Tahmeed Hossain, Alexis Mack, Molly Niemczyk, Tamera Travis; Jeff Bang, Sidney Billingsly, Jordan Dobson, Carlan Ivey; Ray Garner, Kierston Jackson, Ashley Robbins, Michelle Zhang; Brandon Culver, Alex Mann (3rd place), Jason Mitchell (1st place), Zach York.

March 9, 2013, Georgia Tech High School Math Competition, Atlanta.

4th place Varsity team: Heeyoon Kim (finalist, 7th place), Alex Mann (finalist, 16th place) Jeremy Rachels (semi-finalist), Brian Silva (finalist, 19th place), Lamisa Syed (semi-finalist).

March 15, 2013, Middle Georgia State College Math Olympics, Macon.

2nd place JV team: Ruslan Babkin, Jeff Bang (1st place), Sidney Billingsley, Naomi Siddiquee.

1st place Varsity team: Heeyoon Kim (1st place), Alex Mann, Jason Mitchell, Brian Silva (2nd place)

3rd place Varsity Team: Jasmine Johnson, Paul Kim, Lamisa Syed, Zach York (3rd place).

5th place Varsity Team: Ray Garner, Ashley Robbins, Lindsey Theodore, Michelle Zhang

March 16, 2013, Greater Atlanta Christian School’s Dwight Love Math Tournament, Norcross.

7th place JV team: Ruslan Babkin, Jeff Bang, Sidney Billingsley, Ashley Hong, Tahmeed Hossain, Naomi Siddiquee.

4th place Varsity team: Indi Brown, Briana Cowles, Brandon Culver, Ray Garner, Jahvan Innerarity, Jasmine Johnson, Paul Kim, Jeremy Rachels (1st place), Ashley Robbins, Lamisa Syed, Lindsey Theodore, Michelle Zhang.

March 16, 2013, Furman University Wylie Mathematics Tournament, Greenville, South Carolina.

1st place team: Heeyoon Kim, Alex Mann, Jason Mitchell, Brian Silva (5th place).

March 30, 2013, Walton Math Fest, Marietta.

6th place JV team: Jeff Bang, Sidney Billingsley, Jordan Dobson, Ashley Hong, Carlan Ivey, Naomi Siddiquee

2nd place Varsity team: Ray Garner, Heeyoon Kim (4th place, Super-Varsity), Alex Mann (5th place, Super-Varsity), Jason Mitchell, Aqib Momin, Jeremy Rachels (3rd place), Ashley Robbins, Brian Silva (8th place, Super-Varsity), Lindsey Theodore, Paul Yates, Zach York, Michelle Zhang.

April 22, 2013, Clemson Calculus Challenge, Clemson University, South Carolina.

2nd place team and 1st place school: Brandon Culver, Jahvan Innerarity, Paul Kim, Alex Mann (3rd place), Jason Mitchell, Brian Silva (1st place), Paul Yates, Zach York (5th place)

April 27, 2013, GCTM State Mathematics Tournament, Macon.

1st place team overall and AAAAAA Champions: Heeyoon Kim, Alex Mann, Jason Mitchell, Jeremy Rachels (1st place), Brian Silva.

The first place team at the Furman University Math Tournament, March 16, 2013. Left to right: Brian Silva, Heeyoon Kim, Jason Mitchell, Alex Mann.