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Health & Fitness

St Joseph High School Students Get Moody

Two teams of five St Joseph High School top mathematicians will be getting Moody, as they compete with over 600 high schools in the annual Moody's Mega Math Challenge.

This weekend two teams of five St Joseph High School top mathematicians will be getting Moody, as they compete with over 600 high schools across 29 States across the nation in the annual Moody’s Mega Math Challenge.

The M3  Challenge is entirely Internet-based and begins at 7am on Saturday. From then, the teams will have until 9pm that evening, or 14 hours, to solve an open-ended, realistic, applied math-modeling problem focused on a real-world issue.

The M3 Challenge spotlights applied mathematics as a powerful problem-solving tool, as a viable and exciting profession, and as a vital contributor to advances in an increasingly technical society. Says St Joseph High School Math Department Head Nancy Dennin: “Having our students participate in the Moody Math Challenge offers them an opportunity to research and investigate a real-world situation. This opportunity is invaluable for their intellectual growth and learning to collaborate with each other and balance their strengths.”

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For the students, the day will culminate in a 30-page ‘solution’, created as a group. A panel of nationally recognized, PhD-level applied mathematicians serve as judges in three rounds of judging. The top six prize-winning teams receive scholarship awards ranging from $2,500 to $20,000, which are divided equally among team members and paid directly to the colleges or universities at which the winning students enroll; however there are more than 50 awards given for this challenge.

However, only the top percentage of solutions and teams are given feedback by the judging panel. Last year was St Joe’s first time to participate in the Moody Challenge: their solution was awarded just such an evaluation. This year’s teams are planning on continued success.

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“This is a competition that at one level may be the most challenging academic endeavor the students have tried to date”, says SJ Moody moderator and staff member Attila Levai. “However, I have been told by the students it is at the same time the most satisfying. Writing a research paper, working with other students, meeting a short deadline; modeling an actual topic from our world, using math and mathematical reasoning, gives the student a great sense of accomplishment and pride. The success for the team is the finishing of this task, even more than the possible winning outcome.”

Coaches and teams will be notified in April of the judging results.

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Pictured: back row, left to right: Sophia Ronga ’14, Matt Immerso ’13, Zak Psaras ’13, Dylan Spagnuolo ’13, Sasha Kawakami ’13 front row, left to right: Alex Pinto ’14, Stefanie Beardsworth ’14, Maria Spinelli ’14, JP Gschwind ‘14

St Joseph High School strives to be the premier college preparatory school in Southern Connecticut. The school provides a learning environment that embraces the Gospel values of the Roman Catholic faith and promotes a commitment to family and community. The school prepares our young women and young men to realize their potential, helps them to excel in higher education, and provides a foundation to guide them throughout their lives.

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