Mercy Math Team Seeks to Extend Streak of First Place Finishes

Girls, it turns out, can do math. In fact, there’s nothing more synonymous with Mercy High School, an all-girls high school in Middletown, than math. The school’s track-record in recent years is unblemished – back-to-back-to-back first place finishes in the competitive Middlesex County Math League, which includes high school teams representing 11 high schools from throughout the county.

Mercy’s stand-out record in the math competition has additional distinctions: Mercy has been the only all-girls team to participate in the Middlesex County League since they began participating in the competition just four years ago, in the fall of 2016.

In that premiere year, the students earned second place in the large high school division in the league. In only their second year, the 2017-18 academic year, they earned first place. That finish was replicated a year later, and then for the third consecutive year in 2019-20. The results have been impressive, consistent and increasingly gaining statewide notice.

During their incredible run of outstanding scholarship, the students have been honored by the Middletown Common Council, which approved a resolution stating that the math team “has indisputably proven that girls do, indeed, embrace their inner mathematician as evidenced by this stellar team performance as well as exceptional individual performances.”

In the initial years, Mercy’s team was led by 3 sophomores and 3 juniors, while most other schools included seniors among their team leaders. Then and now, the Mercy students work diligently on practice packets that cover the topics that will be the focus of a particular meet. They also conduct what is referred to as a “mock meet,” usually the day before the meet.

In past years, the competition among schools was held monthly at a host school. Each meet consisted of five rounds of math questions, a school could earn up to eighteen points each round and the team with the most points finishes in first place for that meet. School scores are totaled, and a winner declared towards the conclusion of the academic year. The students are not permitted to use calculators.

This year, due to COVID-19 restrictions, competitions are being held remotely, but Mercy’s students still hope to excel. So far, so good. At the first varsity math team meet on October 8, Mercy mathletes finished the meet in first place, edging Xavier High School by just three points.

“The students not only excel in math, they have developed wonderful camaraderie,” said Mercy President Alissa DeJonge. “They encourage each other, assist the community, and have developed an unwavering commitment to learning. They are truly inspiring.”

Official participants this year are Anna Gu of Middletown, Helen Yang of Cromwell, Tina Yan of Old Lyme, Alexia Fenteany from Old Saybrook and Samantha Magro of Marlborough. The League also keeps track of highest scoring Senior, Junior and Underclassman. Anna Gu is the current highest league scorer for seniors and Alexia Fenteany is the current highest league scoring junior. Unofficial participants were Calle Dennis of Colchester, Lucy Zajack and Yuca Tang both from Middletown.

In addition to the math team, Mercy also offers students a Math Club and a Math Honor Society.

Mathematics Honor Society Providing Tutoring, Helping Community

The Mercy chapter of Mu Alpha Theta is a duly affiliated chapter of the National High School & Two-Year College Mathematics Honor Society. The society is dedicated to inspiring a keen interest in mathematics, developing strong scholarship, promoting enjoyment of mathematics and serving the community. Currently, more than 124,000 students are Mu Alpha Theta members at more than 2,633 schools in the United States and in 23 foreign countries. Criterion requires students to maintain a minimum 3.8 GPA in all mathematics courses along with an overall GPA of 3.6 in all other courses.

Every member of the society is actively involved in the Mercy Math Club, which is open to students in grades 9-12. As part of honor society membership, the girls provide peer tutoring and commit to enrolling in a mathematics course each of their four years at Mercy.

This year, with the option of traveling to a local elementary school to tutor young students not possible due to COVID-19, the society is instead focusing on providing tutoring and math practice for any student at Mercy who needs it – in-person or virtually, through Microsoft Teams. This new approach to peer tutoring allows greater flexibility in scheduling to respond to students who seek assistance.

“I have always been passionate about math and what I like about tutoring is that it provides me an opportunity to apply my knowledge to help other people, which makes me feel happy and rewarding,” said student Tina Yan ’21. “Tutoring also reinforces my knowledge and makes me a better communicator. As the Vice President of Tutoring for Math NHS, I coordinate the peer tutoring program by matching the student/tutor pair and ensure that everyone receives the help they need.”

In addition, the students are collecting gift cards, personal care toiletries and personal care dental items for farm workers and their families living in Connecticut.

An estimated 18,000 farmworkers are seasonal and migratory workers who help during growing seasons at orchards, nurseries, and farms locally. The Connecticut River Valley Farmworker Health Program (CRVFHP) provides basic healthcare services to these families, most of whom live below the federal poverty level.

“With COVID-19, their situation got worse; nevertheless, farmworkers never stopped and have continued working to provide food to all Americans and that is why the Math Honor Society has invited the Mercy community to participate in this campaign,” said student Kaila Lujambio ‘21.

Student Initiative Strives for Excellence & Enjoyment

The Mercy Math Club, organized and meetings facilitated by the math honor society officers, is an opportunity for the students to enjoy their love of mathematics through everything from games to national competitions.

The Mercy Math Team is moderated by Mrs. Maureen Wellman, a Mercy alumna and retired Mercy Math teacher/department chair. Mrs. Janette Dziatko, also a Mercy alumna and current Math Department Chairperson, is co-moderating the Math Team and moderates the Math Club and the Math Honor Society.

The student officers this year for Mu Alpha Theta Math NHS are: President: Yuhan ‘Helen’ Yang of Cromwell; VP Tutoring: Wenhui ‘Tina’ Yan of Old Lyme; VP Community Outreach: Kaila Lujambio of Wallingford; and Secretary/Treasurer: Angelica French from Clinton.

“I am and always have been proud of how hard these ladies work and how seriously they take the challenge. And it’s a huge challenge - these questions are more difficult then they see in their math classes,” said Wellman. “I find math to be as beautiful to me as someone else would see beauty in a work by Chopin or a painting by Renoir. It’s pure, it makes sense, it can be whimsical, it can be invigorating and fun. It’s my second language. And to so many young ladies who have joined the team over the years, it’s their second language also.”

Mercy’s stellar year-after-year achievement in a math league started at the urging of a student in the fall of 2015. Heidy Wang, then in her sophomore year, met with Mrs. Wellman. Heidy asked if Mercy could join the Middlesex County Math League, and drew up a proposal. She soon received the green light to proceed, and Mercy students were on hand for the last few meets that year, just to get a sense of how the competition was conducted and what they’d need to do to prepare. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

Mercy High School is an AP Capstone Diploma, Catholic diocesan college preparatory high school for young women, where each student is encouraged to recognize the abilities and strengths that will enable her to achieve her potential. Students are inspired to respect the dignity of others and to provide leadership and service that foster community, understanding and compassion in local and global environments. Students attend from across Connecticut, from communities in Hartford, Middlesex, New Haven, and New London counties.