For the STA math team, not every problem has been as easy as “pi,” but that does not stop the competitions from honoring their hard work.

“We’ve had a great year,” mathlete, junior Libby O’Neil said. “I’m really proud of how we have done at the competitions.”

The math team received second place as a school in the small division in the Kansas City Area Teachers of Mathematics (KCATM) competition and regional championship award in the Missouri Mathematics League (MOML) competition winning second place in state. According to O’Neil, this ended an extremely successful year with their largest team to date.

“This year we have a really great group of people on the team,” O’Neil said. “We are all really good at math and the meetings really help us prepare for competitions.”

STA Math Team

Seniors: Lindsay Bowers, Celeste Bremen, Kylie Hornbeck, Stacy Hymer, Kayla Kratofil, Shaughnessy Miller, Rebecca Oyler, Colleen Riley, Rachel Winslow

Juniors: Cydney Chibnall, Mary Frey, Maggie Holt, Kathleen Hough, Molly Kenney, Sarah Moran, Libby O’Neil, Sue Seemani

Sophmores: Mackenzie Jones, Kate Needham, Megan Schilling, Erin Sellers, Paige Wendland, Hannah Wolf

Freshman: Sarah Frey, Lane Maguire, Nikki Rodriguez, Elaine Schmidt, Libby Stoops

The team gathers once a month under the guidance of math teacher, Dr. Jo Weller to practice and compete in three competitions of the year. The team competes in two out of school local competition, Johnson County Community College hosts the Great Plains Math League competition on Dec. 5 and Olathe East hosts the KCATM competition March 3. The in-school regional competition, the MOML, continues throughout the school year.

“[What I love most about math team] is that once a month I can spend time with people who just love math,” mathlete, junior Maggie Holt said. “It is really encouraging, especially when there are such intelligent people on the team. It is very inspiring.”

For the MOML competition, the team score is determined by a series of submitted answers to ten questions given each month.

“Whenever we get together, it gets our brains thinking,” mathlete, senior Celeste Bremen said.

During the KCATM competition, 15 STA mathletes received individual awards, including Bremen who received first place All-Around Senior and Paige Wendland who received second place All-Around Sophomore.

According to Bremen, the team not only works hard, but enjoys spending time with one another, going out to lunch after competitions and celebrating their annual Pi Day.

“The best part of math team is definitely Pi Day,” Bremen said.

Each year math enthusiasts celebrate Pi Day around the world March 14 or 3/14 because of the mathematical symbol pi which equals approximately 3.14. According to O’Neil, the team greatly anticipates this event, not only because it is a fun-filled bonding experience, but because Weller brings six different types of homemade pies.

“We do like to talk about math together, but [Weller] just brings the best desserts,” Holt said.

The STA math team has worked hard this year, according to O’Neil but there is more to math team than just crunching numbers, especially in the case when “pi” is involved.