This year’s Moody’s Mega Math Challenge winners were announced March 24, with Pine View’s two teams, the Jukeboxes and Torus de Force, ranked among the top teams.
The annual competition invites a team of three to five high school students to work for 14 consecutive hours to solve a real-world related math problem. This year’s question involved analyzing the cost of higher education in a STEM field to determine if it was worth the financial investment, among other things.
Of the 1,128 groups that competed nationwide, both Pine View teams scored in the triage or the top 17 percent of all submissions. Team Jukeboxes scored between the 13th and 65th place, earning an Honorable Mention and a $1,000 scholarship that is to be split among the five students on the team.
The coach of both of Pine View’s teams, high school math teacher Chris DeVeau, has helped students participate in the contest for the past five years. Math teacher Dr. Kenneth Jukes also coached this year.
“It’s amazing and wonderful to see what these young minds can do,” DeVeau said. “It is absolutely awe-inspiring to see them do this well and I am so glad I am able to watch them succeed.”
Team Torus de Force
Parker Mason, twelfth grade
Zackary Corbett, twelfth grade
Shawn Huang, twelfth grade
Peter Scherbak, eleventh grade
Jenny Li, eleventh grade
Team Jukeboxes
Nick Pelisek, twelfth grade
Caleb Proffitt, twelfth grade
Marcel Griffioen, eleventh grade
Grace Wickerson, eleventh grade
Aravind Byju, eleventh grade