North Hills Seniors Finish in Top 5 Percent in National Math Competition

A team of North Hills High School students has been named an Honorable Mention award winner in the nationwide Moody’s Mega Math Challenge. Seniors Tabitha Ashoff, Nicole Gallegor, Kevin Loughlin and Matthew Pack placed within the top 55 from a field of 1,054 teams comprised of juniors and seniors from across the nation. 

The students earned a $1,000 prize to be divided equally among the four team members and applied toward their college or university tuition. This was the eighth year for Moody’s Mega Math Challenge, and the second year that North Hills has participated and earned an honorable mention. 

In this year's contest, more than 6,000 students used applied mathematics to determine the best possible way to handle the more than 30 million tons of plastic waste produced in the United States each year. 

Using their math knowledge along with critical thinking, research and analytical skills, students quantified 30 million tons of plastic waste, determined the best methods for U.S. cities to recycle it and recommended guidelines for nationwide recycling standards. Working independently via the internet, teams of three to five students had 14 hours to study the issue, collect data and devise models before uploading their solutions in a research paper. 

Submissions were analyzed and ranked by more than 150 mathematician judges. Of the 1,054 papers submitted, only 175 made it through round one and advanced to the second round where winners were determined at the Philadelphia headquarters of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, organizers of the contest. 

Each school may enter up to two teams. Juniors Andrew Duerig, Anthony Sciulli, Nathan Spear, Gabe Stanton and Michael Zheng also represented North Hills. 

The M3 Challenge is a unique contest designed to highlight the value of mathematics in daily life and in solving real-world issues. It is sponsored by The Moody's Foundation, which awards a total of $115,000 in prizes. 

The top six overall teams will receive scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $20,000 and are invited to present their winning solutions to a panel of professional applied mathematicians at the Manhattan headquarters of Moody's Corporation.  Six semifinalist teams will receive prizes of $1,500 each and 43 Honorable Mention awardees will each receive $1,000.  For more information, visit http://m3challenge.siam.org/about/mediacenter/?id=1590.

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