Members of Cam High’s Math Club competed against other schools in the Ventura College High School Math Competition.

On Feb. 24, Cam High took first place in the group competition. They competed against eight other schools, with four students placing in the top 18 on the individual tests.

Carl Sloan (junior), Xavier Barneclo (junior), Dakota Frost (sophomore), and Jacob Curren (junior) were among the students who placed top 18 individually. Sloan took first place individually and helped his group in the team competition.

Curren competed with his other teammates, placing 15th individually. They each took one test and had about 10 questions to complete in one hour. After the individual tests, Cam High’s team competed against other schools with live questions. “There would be buzzers, they’d put a question up on the board, and you would buzz if you got the question. It was pretty exciting,” said Curren.

Cam High competed in five rounds of team questioning. With one school against another, the race to answer the math question first had an impact on points. “If they were wrong, the other team gets a chance to answer,” said Sloan. Teams had difficulties competing due to new rules. Students who answered the previous question correct couldn’t answer one after another. “This year, the individual person who got it right couldn’t help on the next question,” said Sloan. Cam High won all five rounds, with Dos Pueblos High School coming in a close second, winning four rounds.

“Some of them may have gotten further [in placing], but there was a mistake made on the individual test. But by that time, all the tests had been passed out,” said Mrs. Brandae Rossini, adviser of the Math Club. The mistake was made on the answer key, which could have affected the scores of the students who placed.

Out of the competition and in school, Rossini helps the club members prepare for tests, plan events and fundraisers, and gives them opportunities to take national tests. Every Tuesday at lunch, the Math Club, which consists of about ten students, meets in T6. Each month, students have the option of taking the California Math League (CAML) test. They also take tests from the American Math Competition (AMC), in which they compete against other students from across the country to apply for the International Math Olympiad.

Not all students in the club participated in the competition. The competition was an optional event for the members. To join the Math Club, students can talk to Rossini in T6, her classroom. There are no specific qualifications to join.

The Ventura College High School Math Competition is the only competition that Cam High’s Math Club competes in outside of school, and members were happy receiving their first place award.