Math and French for the Win

At the Top of Their Game: Math and French Excel!

MATH — Crespi math team wins two national championships

Despite the challenges of a global pandemic, remote learning, and interacting with faculty and fellow students via Zoom, the Crespi Math Club found a reason to celebrate after winning back-to-back national championships. The Arete Labs Math Madness Challenge drew over 1,000 students from around the country. As if practicing for a national competition online wasn’t enough of a challenge, the team faithfully zoomed in from two hemispheres and two drastic time differences.

Under the direction of Honors Pre-Calculus & Calculus teacher Sahiv Lopez, the Math Club was formed in 2019. Then sophomore Joseph Liu approached Mr. Lopez with the idea of starting the Crespi Math Club to inspire enthusiasm and excitement for doing math, and taking that enthusiasm into competitions. Seven more students joined that first year, and daily afterschool practices began. The complex problems were initially so challenging that the students would spend well over an hour pondering over approaches. At times, they could only complete one problem per session. “It was great to see the amount of motivation and excitement the kids had for the subject and the passion for solving the problems,” said Mr. Lopez.

The team’s first competition occurred in February 2020 as they participated in the American Mathematics Competition by taking the AMC 12. Based on their performance in the AMC, Arete Labs invited the Celts to participate in their online Math Madness, a team-based weekly league competition culminating in a nationwide, single-elimination bracket tournament in the fall of 2020. On the heels of the invitation, the coronavirus closed down in-person instruction in March, and club practice was suspended for the rest of the school year.

Although in-person instruction was still restricted by fall of 2020, the math team was anxious to get back to reconnecting with each other via zoom and putting in the hard work to be contenders in the Arete Labs challenge. The mathletes took advantage of Crespi’s asynchronous Fridays to up their game. Vice Principal Dr. Alan Swaney describes the benefit of these Fridays: “When we adjusted to online learning during the stay-at-home period of the COVID pandemic, we realized that too much teleconferencing would be bad for students and faculty alike. Therefore, we scheduled Fridays for asynchronous learning - meaning that students would still engage in the learning process without the demands of attending a live class. While students worked independently or in groups on projects of varying sophistication, teachers made themselves available in case questions arose. We believe our use of asynchronous Fridays was integral to the success of our distance learning program.” Recalling the challenge of practicing from different continents, Lopez remarked, “Our international students would synchronize with us from 1 a.m. - 2 a.m. their time, and made a great effort to be at every practice.”

Commencing in October, the weekly contests involved team members solving eight algebra or geometry problems individually. “These advanced questions were not what you would see on a typical high school exam,” said Mr. Lopez. The students had 30 minutes to complete the questions, and the individuals who scored the highest composed the entire score for the team. After performing well in the competition’s Division II bracket, the Celts were excited about their chances. Said Mr. Lopez, “We would joke about how nice it would be if we won this. But at the time, it seemed out of reach, so we just took it as a fun competition and a way to be together like pre-COVID. The kids were having a good time.”

The good news came right after Thanksgiving that Crespi advanced to the quarterfinals and then the semi-finals, and that was when the team decided to go for the gold. “The joking around in September that we were doing “this for fun” became more serious,” said Lopez. “The team got the best Christmas present on December 23rd when we were crowned the 2020 Math Madness champions!”

At the Top of Their Game: Math and French Excel!

In February of 2021, the Celts again competed in The American Mathematics Competition. “As a team, it was nice to see that we had improved our score from the last time we competed, both as a team average and individually,” recalled Lopez. “And then in March, we were able to be back in person finally.”

With five new Math Club members joining in the first semester of 2021, the team achieved two significant victories. Hungry to again take the Arete math title, the group worked on more complex problems. Lopez recalls, “This was now familiar to us, and we were pretty confident we’d make it to the finals. On Christmas Eve, we again got the awesome news that we won the Division II competition for the second year in a row!”

In another victory for the program, junior Luke Jones distinguished himself by qualifying for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination. This invitation is extended to students who score in the top 8% of the competition. Luke scored in the top 5%. Enthusiasm for the team’s success has spread throughout the campus; so much so that the entire student body gathered in the gym during lunch hour to cheer on the finalist of the 2021 Derivative Bee and the 2022 Integration Bee. Students who participated competed against each other to showcase their mastery of advanced derivative and integration techniques.

With the fall of 2022 in full swing, the founders of the Math Club have graduated, new members continue to join, and senior Luke Jones is the president of the club. When asked about this year’s goals, Mr. Lopez responds, “We hope to place in Division 1 and would love a third national championship.” He continues, “Luke is aiming to make it to the United States American Mathematics Olympiad, earned by only the top 2% of the competitors. I am proud to be a part of our small math community at Crespi, and as we have more students find excitement for mathematics it makes me optimistic for our future. Ultimately, I want to continue to share my passion for mathematics with students and for them to keep having fun.” .

COURSE STANDOUTS

FRENCH — Vive le programme de Français de Crespi!

Under the tutelage of French teacher Ms. Roxanne Lecrivain, all French students participated last spring in Le Grand Concours, a National French competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF). The AATF’s mission is to promote the study of the French language and French-speaking literature and cultures at all levels. Le Grand Concours showcases the ability of the “étudiants de français” to understand and converse in this romance language.

The Crespi students’ diligence produced excellent results. Seven students received Honors certificates for their high scores, and four received medals for their national ranking. Following the announcement of the results, the medalists were invited to an award ceremony organized by Le Grand Concours where they were presented with their medals, enjoyed French macarons, and got the chance to meet other young Francophiles.

Senior Dara Banaie was also singularly recognized receiving the 2022 AATF Outstanding Senior in French Award. Dara studied French and was a member of the Société Honoraire de Français (the French Honor Society). At Crespi, Dara was the lead editor and journalist of the school’s French online magazine and co-authored an article published in France in the magazine Le Monde des Ados. A tutor to other French students, he was also a cooking club member, helping many peers and introducing them to French cuisine. Now that he has graduated, he will remain a part of Crespi’s Francophone community through a pen pal program between recent alumni and current French students. .