Students across the district participate in Mathletics to problem-solve and work out math problems with their friends or on their own.

Each school in the district hosts a Mathletics competition sometime during the school year. Although any student is welcome to participate, math club sponsor Jill Johnson advises that mathletics isn’t for everyone.

“Mathletics is geared towards students that excel in math, so typically it’s students that are in honors level math classes,” Johnson said.

Johnson recommends students participate in Mathletics for several reasons.

“I encourage them to participate in mathletics because the questions that they ask are not the same kind that you’ll get in a typical math class,” Johnson explained.  “They are more problem-solving, maybe there is a little trick to it, maybe it’s a logic puzzle, and so it can be a little more interesting than your typical Algebra 2 or Trigonometry class.”

Johnson also explained the real-world application of Mathletics.

“Also, [Mathletics is] something they can put on their resume,” Johnson said. “If they are applying to colleges and want to have extracurricular things on their resume, Mathletics is a great one to put because it shows that you can compete and handle that kind of pressure when competing.”

Competitions are also held at Emporia State and Pitt State, and students may also get recognized for their efforts.

“At Emporia State, you can either compete individually or in the team competition, and the winners are first, second, and third, and they get medals,” Johnson said. “The Pitt State competition is the same thing, though they have 20 different categories for competitions that includes computer science and physics. So, it’s kind of neat because you could do three or four different categories and win a couple different medals.”

Mathletics not only gives a learning experience and awards, but also provides great high school memories for students involved in them, according to sophomore Christian Hedrick.

“I would say one of the most fun experiences was when we went to Emporia State last year,” Hedrick said. “We were all messed up. I forgot my calculator and stuff. It was bad.”

Hedrick also says that there is a fun aspect of being in Mathletics outside of the competition.

“After we did the competition, I ordered tater tots from the cafeteria and they gave me a big thing of tater tots. I asked for a large, and they gave me, like, a 3XL,” Hedrick recalled. “Then me and my friends just sat out on the patio and made friends with this college kid just eating tater tots.”

Mathletics is open to any student and the first competition was at SM West on Oct. 3.