The five BPHS participants in the math challenge were, from left, Christina Lin, Julie Capito, Kyler Mangulis, Madison Fagant and Jacob Bunker.
A group of five Broadalbin-Perth High School students worked around the clock (14 hours to be exact) to solve a complex math problem as competitors in the national M3 Challenge.
The five BPHS participants, Julie Capito, Jacob Bunker, Christina Lin, Madison Fagant and Kyler Mangulis — all seniors — put their heads together over the last weekend in February to develop a mathematical model for assigning climate vulnerability scores to national parks.
Sponsored by The Moody’s Foundation and organized by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Moody’s Mega Math (M3) Challenge is a free Internet-based, applied math competition for junior and senior high school students. The contest provides an opportunity for students across the nation to work in teams to come up with their own solutions to a realistic problem within a 14-hour time frame.
According to contest organizers, the strict time constraint of the competition mimics many professional environments and shows students how critical time management skills are when solving real-world problems, specifically in STEM professions. The contest offers $150,000 in scholarships to winning teams.
This is the second time BPHS has put forth an M3 team, and four of the five participated in the 2016 competition. They didn’t win, but their advising teacher, Billy Eipp, said the students received some valuable feedback.