Last week, the Tenafly High School Math Team made the Tigers proud. The team placed second in the state in the 44th Annual AMTNJ High School Contest. Advised by Ms. Peg Wissler, the team was led to its success by students Iris Sung (’23), Alon Danai (’24), Adityan Swaminathan (’24), Nuree Han (’23), Jingyu Lee (’24), and Seungkyu Yoon (’23). 

The AMTNJ stands for the Association of Mathematics Teachers of New Jersey. Every year, it creates a test to send to all participating schools across the state. As one might guess, the annual tests are notorious for their thought-provoking, complex questions. This year, nine questions were given with a 45-minute time limit. The THS Math Club has been participating in this event every year. The team members work cooperatively by first taking the test individually, and then picking the five best scores among the members. The average score is then sent to the AMTNJ. Unfortunately, Tenafly High School has not been able to place for a long time. That is, until now. 

“It was really exciting to have so many people who were enthusiastic about math, even outside the classroom,” said Iris Sung, Co-President of the Math Club. 

Adityan Swaminathan, who got the second-best score in the competition, conveyed his excitement. “I’m happy I was able to help the team get second place,” he said. “My family is happy for me and proud, but there is still a long way for me to go.” Swaminathan also expressed his future goals to do well in the American Invitational Mathematics Exam and qualify for the USA Math Olympiad. 

Wissler, the advisor of the THS Math Team, also expressed her delight in the results. “We’ve at other times done the best in our section, but we’ve never been second in the whole state,” she said. According to Wissler, Tenafly has not officially placed second in the state for as long as she can remember. The fact that this year’s Math Team placed second means a lot not just to the Math Team, but also to Tenafly. 

Interestingly enough, many of the members in the Math Team did not realize that they were participating in a team competition when they initially took the test. According to Sung, even though they “weren’t aware that it was actually a team competition,” the members “still enjoyed [it.]”  

Amazing, isn’t it? However, the THS Math Team’s achievements don’t end there––there was also an individual win. Iris Sung individually placed first in the whole state. “Personally, I was definitely very excited to place first in the state,” Sung said. “Since I have other experiences with math competitions, it was not completely unexpected, but I am still very grateful to place first.”

The Echo congratulates the Math Team and Ms. Wissler for doing their success.