Stereotypical groups can be found at just about every high school: jocks, cheerleaders, creative artists of all kinds, the crazy drama students, and even the nerds of marching band (including this writer). Abington High School is no exception, but there is one club that is different – the Math Team. Members of a math team are usually thought of as the nerds – the smartest and most antisocial students in school, but not at AHS. According to Alicia Hammill (Class of 2018), “It’s super fun and not as nerdy or weird as math teams are portrayed in movies like “Mean Girls.” The members are really friendly, and its a great time.” The students attend meets in different towns and meet up with other teams from several other schools.  Hammill describes how it works. “The Math Team competes against other schools in a series of increasingly difficult rounds of math problems. The scores of each round are counted and then the winners are announced.” In their first meet (held at AHS) the team placed fifth.

The Math Team is full of friendly, hard working students who push themselves to be their best. The adviser and leader of the team/club is Mr. Holzman. In school he teaches math to students at all different levels of learning, which enables him to guide team members on all different levels through their season on the math team. Hammill was on the team last year and has seen how far it has come. She has high hopes for the upcoming season. “We have improved. Last year we were steadily in the bottom ranks, but this year we’re on our way up the board. We might even be able to win it this year,” said Hammill.

As the team does increasingly better, their hope of placing first at a meet and showing what AHS math students are capable of has risen. But, although Abington hopes to win, that is not their top priority. Hammill wants to make sure people know that the pressure to win does not deter students from joining and trying something new. “It’s much more relaxed than people might think,” said Hammill. The students on the Math Team are friendly and welcoming to anyone willing to work with them, so anyone wanting to try something new is always appreciated. If you are interested in the Math Team, attend a meet or get in touch with Mr. Holzman ([email protected]).

The members of the Math Team are seniors Disha Bhavsar, Brian Diver, Abby Gendreau, Emily Johnson Taylor Johnson, Rachel Marcotte, Taylor McKay, Kaitlin Molloy, Tyler Moulton, Brooke Ritchie, Karl Shao and ; juniors Cassandra Marando, Brianna Medeiros and Sarah Tornato; sophomores Mary Couturier, Allison Dennehy and Alicia Hammill; and freshmen Julia Do, Dianna Izaguirre and Haillee McClafferty.