By Dylan Erni ’21
January 29, 2020
Beverly High School has quite a few clubs and teams, from political discussion groups like Democrats club, complemented by Republicans club, to social clubs such as Dungeons and Dragons and the Gender Sexuality Alliance, as well as academic clubs like Chess, Science, and Robotics Club. However, one of these groups, with a long history, has recently undergone a change of leadership that has drawn attention from the student body.
The Math Team at BHS is a group of students passionate about arithmetic, who meet weekly and participate regularly in competitions with other schools from around the state.
They are led by their three student leaders, Caroline Foley, Sofia Bucco, and Ali Kyrouz, and are advised by Mr. Scott, an Algebra II teacher at school. According to Mr. Scott, the team has been around for about “twenty-five, maybe thirty years.” Their weekly meetings are spent, “usually working on a problem,” of a sort that they may see when competing. In their competitions, BHS Math Team and their region, including Marblehead, Swampscott, Salem, Lynn Classical, and Lynn English compete to answer questions in rounds, both individually and as a group.
The group’s members spoke of their passion for math and why they participate in the group. “One of the reasons I teach math is that math is a huge struggle for certain kids,” remarked Mr. Scott. “I always wanted to teach math to try and get people to think of it a little differently or getting people to realize the real-life applications.”
“I just like the math, I just find that it’s calming to do,” added one group leader. “It’s really satisfying, and it helps with classes.” Another leader, Sofia Bucco, said, “I get math pretty easily so I just do it for fun.”
Mr. Scott highlighted their group’s drive to recruit more people into their group, especially freshmen and sophomores. The team expressed that it’s not a skill-based group, with Bucco adding, “I just want to add, you don’t have to be good at math. You just have to enjoy it.”
Mr. Scott added, “Like what Sofia says, we really want people to understand that there’s no pressure, it’s fun to be a part of this team. We go to meets, but it’s not like there is tons of pressure.”
The meetings have candy and pizza, so if you enjoy mathematics, and have some time after school, why not give it a try?
