Byram Hills Inducts 59 Students Into Mu Alpha Theta Math Honor Society

ARMONK, NY — Students whose performances both in and outside the classroom were honored with an elite national recognition.

Byram Hills High School inducted 59 sophomores and juniors into the Mu Alpha Theta mathematics honor society during an April 28 ceremony, recognizing students for their work in math and community service. To qualify for membership, students must earn an A average in at least two levels of high school math and complete 10 hours of community service.

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“It is a pleasure to be here tonight to celebrate the mathematical accomplishments of each and every student standing up here,” math teacher and Mu Alpha Theta adviser Elyse Cohen said at the ceremony. “These students have worked hard to be in the seats that they are in today.”

The chapter officers spoke about the history and future of mathematics and shared what the honor society had meant to them at Byram Hills. Junior India Edwards, one of the secretaries, said she remembered being inducted a year ago and struggling with imposter syndrome. After once viewing math only as numbers, answers and scores, she said, “math grew from black and white numbers to a process that values both perseverance, creativity and growth. And in understanding that, I could better understand myself.”

India encouraged the new inductees to use difficult moments as opportunities. “Don't let them pass you by,” she said. “Don't let them define you either. Find that middle ground and use them. Let crisis challenge you to think differently, to grow, to discover what you're capable of and how to get there.”

Senior Chase Keller, another secretary, urged students to take advantage of opportunities in the honor society. He said he helped create a financial literacy program for middle school students and helped lead the first year of the algebra TA program. “Neither of these existed when I first joined, but they only became real because I took the initiative and used the resources around me to help build something meaningful,” he said. “That's what makes Mu Alpha Theta special.”

Vice President Ariana Guido said mathematics builds skills beyond a classroom assignment. “Despite popular belief, math requires a significant amount of creativity and outside-the-box thinking,” she said. “It is a training of the brain to think in a unique way that no other subject can quite evoke.”

Senior Alex Lewis, the chapter president, connected math to both fiction and space exploration. “Math is a universal language,” he said. “Math gives us a common framework for understanding the world and even potentially for understanding each other. That's part of what Mu Alpha Theta celebrates.”

Each new member was recognized and received a Mu Alpha Theta pin. Mu Alpha Theta was formed in 1957 and is the national high school and two-year college mathematics honor society, with more than 100,000 students in the United States and abroad.