Written By Laena Tieng
The Tahoma High School Math Team earned top honors at the Washington State Mu Alpha Theta competition at Thomas Jefferson High School on March 18. Rohit Tripathy, Emily Clark, Hitesh Boinpally, Laena Tieng, Takamasa Minami, and Rhiana Martin along with their coach Malinda Shirley went to compete against the top schools in the state. The team was recognized for placing in 12 areas of competition and taking home a well-deserved plaque for 9th place in overall sweepstakes as a school!
Sophomores Tieng, Boinpally and Clark all placed in the top 10! Tieng (5th in Speed Math), Boinpally (6th in Sequences and Series) and Clark (8th in Mental Math) added a lot of points to the board. Commenting on the team’s success, Emily has stated, “I’m really happy about the number of placements we had, especially since we only have six people competing today!” Boinpally states, “It was a really engaging competition that really taught me a lot.” Tieng, a sophomore, additionally placed 13th in Ciphering, 6th in Analytical Geometry, and 9th in the Individual Test.
Tripathy, a freshman member of the team placed in the top ten for three different tests in his division. He took 4th place for the overall Individual Test, 6th for Ciphering, and 6th for Logs and Exponents.
Rhiana Martin, who is a senior, placed 6th in Matrices and Vectors, 7th in the BC Calculus Test, and 9th in Mental Math. As a senior, she reflected on her time competing, speaking, and being a National Officer for Mu Alpha Theta. She stated, “This was one of my last competitions and I am very proud of what the team has accomplished at States!” Martin excitedly said, “As president of my math team, I could not be happier with my comrades! I am proud of all my math team members! This final year has been fantastic!”
Last week, 6 THS math team members Rhi Martin, Laena Tieng, Emily Clark, Rohit Tripathy, Taka Minami and Ryugo Ishida earned top honors at Regionals to qualify for the Washington State Math Council STATES at Central Washington University on April 22nd.
The math team is in the process of preparing for Nationals in July in Buffalo, NY. Tieng, Boinpally, Tripathy and Clark have qualified for a spot to head to Nationals to represent Tahoma at the Mu Alpha Theta National Convention this summer. Coach Malinda Shirley says, “I am thrilled with the MAƟ STATE results! This year’s team is hard working and proudly earned these top results against the brightest math students in the State!” Shirley also mentioned, “These particular students have been working on the specialized math concepts for the past 4 years and their determination has resulted in their excellence as well as high State rankings. They have arrived at the point where they know that MATH IS FUN!”
