East Brunswick’s Math Circle Hopes To Add Fun To The Equation

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ – For many students math can seem intimidating. But a group of high school students is looking to spread their love for the subject through their private math club.

The East Brunswick Math Circle provides students with a unique platform to explore their love for mathematics, allowing them to challenge themselves and compete in prestigious competitions like CMIMC at Carnegie Mellon University and HMMT at Harvard University and MIT.

During the competitions, students participate in individual and team rounds that include intriguing and thought-provoking problems. Additionally, participants tackle some of the most intricate problems through the implementation of advanced computer algorithms.

Math Circle is separate from the school district’s math club but is currently made up of East Brunswick High School Math Team students. The school district’s math team goes to local tournaments like the New Jersey Math League and the Central Jersey Math League after school with a school advisor. The Math Circle on the other hand goes to national math tournaments that are out-of-state and are not school-sponsored events.

The group is currently looking to expand its membership and wants interested students from all over town to reach out and join.

“The executive board and I have decided to open membership to anyone from the community who is interested even if they go to a different school. We don’t want it to be limited to the East Brunswick High School,” said Aaron Wong, president of Math Circle.

Membership is open to nine to 12th graders, said Wong a junior at EBHS.

Math Circle was first founded in 2010 and since then the membership has only grown. Today the club has around 25 members.

“We usually meet once a week and discuss the next tournament,” said Wong. “We practice problems and board members advise other members on how to solve those particular problems.”

By May, when most math tournaments are over, the group meets to discuss what they say are “fun topics” - the different concepts of math that aren’t explored in school or on a daily basis.

“If a student learns something new, they teach it to the rest of the club. That’s the main goal of the organization – to spread the knowledge,” Wong said.

Math Circle is currently facing a lack of adequate coaching support and welcomes mentors to the club. With no coach, parents chaperone the trips and plan the hotels and transportation for overnight trips.

Meanwhile, the school district continues to support this private club and help students excel in math competitions.

“We are grateful to Ms. Maria Cisnero, the AP Calculus BC teacher, for her valuable contribution to the Math Circle,” Wong said.

“Her support for competition math and Women in STEM, and guidance have been crucial to the success of our students.”

To become a coach at Math Circle, the candidate should have the qualifications to teach math along with experience. The candidate should be able to teach members aspects of competitive math like timing strategies

“Our major goal is to just encourage and increase interest in math throughout our community, because I believe that math, especially competition math teaches a lot of important skills. And I hope to spread these important skills to the community at large,” Wong said.

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