February 25th, 2023 marks the day that the Herrin High School Math Team conquered the ICTM Math Team Regionals. With 36 members, the math team is one of the largest and most successful clubs at HHS. Each year the HHS math team competes in a series of math-related events in order to advance from Regionals to State. While everyone still enjoyed the online competitions, it is agreed that everyone missed competing in-person across the state. 

With 10 different events, it is a hard, fast-paced environment that brings math-loving students together in a team climate. Ella Reynolds recalls that some of her favorite memories from the math team are “going out to eat with everyone before/after competitions”.

The first event of the day was dependent on the grade. Each grade level has their own test with a given 50 minutes to complete 20 questions. Six people are chosen per grade level to complete this test and answer as many correct answers as possible, gaining two points per correct answer. 

Tyler Dodson (freshman) was able to take first place with a score of 30 along side  Sophomore Joshua Jones who won first place in the Geometry test with 28 points. Nathan Abba (junior) won first place in the Algebra II test with a whopping 28 beside Ella Reynolds who also took first place (12 points). Individually, the team was off to a great start; each team of individuals was able to win first in each of their divisions. 

While each team was amazed at the success, everyone knows there is always room for improvement. While Dodson has only been on the math team this year, he already believes that the math team has “improved [his] math skills by leaps and bounds.”; he is prepared for more competition in the upcoming months. 

During the 8-person team events, each team has eight people who complete 20 questions in ten minutes; both 8-person teams were able to achieve first place. The 2-person events consist of two people who try to answer 10 questions as fast as they can with a maximum time of three minutes per question; the freshman-sophomore team was able to achieve first place, and the junior-senior team put in a tough fight but ultimately fell second to the Anna-Jonesboro team by two points. 

Senior Cameryn Champion was disappointed by the close match but learned that they have “got to be quicker and more accurate at the same time in order to keep up”. 

The calculator team was also able to score an impressive victory and took first along with the presentation team who achieved a whopping 43, just seven points away from a perfect score. 

The newest main coach for the math team, Kyle Harlow, has great expectations and is “starting to see a hunger for winning from everyone on [the] team”. He has enjoyed this season so far and is excited to begin in-person events again.

With a great start to the season, everyone is excited to see what the HHS Math Team has in store for the upcoming months. after