Newly Formed Riverwood Math Team Places At Mercer Competition

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — High school students from across the state faced off in a day-long math competition at the 36th Annual Mercer University High School Mathematics Contest on Nov. 16. Riverwood sent 13 students for the 36th annual competition. Riverwood placed fifth overall in the “Large School” category.

The event began with a pen and pencil component. The top four finishers per team then competed in a fast-paced ciphering contest whereby students had two minutes to complete ten complex math problems. Math subjects covered were areas of sets, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, analytic geometry, probability and statistics with a small sampling of questions from the areas of logic, and calculus.

“We placed fifth overall, which is a great start for the math team that was formed last year," Senior Josh Lerner said. "We hope to capitalize on our performance and improve with each competition.”

Riverwood math teacher Rod Schopke is the team’s academic sponsor.

Future competitions are planned at Georgia Tech and Clemson in 2020.