The American Mathematics Competitions are national mathematics competitions created by the Math Association of America. They are used as a first round to recruit the International Math Olympiad team which few students across the country qualify. Historically, RCHS has done well with the A.M.C. Test; however, a student from RCHS has never been sent to the next level. Calculus, Computer Science, and Physics teacher Chris McGrath has chaperoned RCHS students at the A.M.C. with Precalculus teacher Perry Hardin for many years.

“We have had students do very well on it,” said McGrath. “It is extremely hard to qualify for the second round.”

For this region, the test is hosted at V.M.I. in downtown Lexington, Va.. 

“V.M.I. is gracious enough to sponsor this test for us and invites several schools nearby to participate,” said Hardin. “Most students are selected by teachers based on performance in class.”

A majority of the students taking the test at V.M.I. are from RCHS. Junior Rily Kuehner has taken the A.M.C. Test four times.

“Being with other intelligent students is exciting because it reminds me that there are other people who also care about education, specifically mathematics,” said Kuehner.

While the students take the 25 question test in a 75 minute time span, the teachers attend a workshop with a couple of the V.M.I. professors. 

“We do a hands-on activity that can work in many levels of math classes by adding more depth, and we did an activity based on the ‘Tower of Hanoi’ this year,” said Hardin. 

The “Tower of Hanoi” is a mathematical game consisting of three rods and a number of disks that uses strategy to move the disks from one rod to another with specific rules. After the test, students and teachers attend an informative lecture given by Professor of Applied Mathematics Colonel Greg Hartman. Junior Maya Humston, along with the other students, was given the chance to interact personally with Hartman’s lecture.

“The lecture was about how math helps launch satellites into orbit,” said Humston. “We all made paper airplanes and threw them at the stage to illustrate the mathematics involved.”

Most students who attend the test have an interest and aptitude for mathematics. Freshman Meg Liwag considers a future career path involving math.

“I plan on going into a field that uses applied mathematics, such as accounting or finance,” said Liwag.

The A.M.C. Test allows students to explore mathematics as well as socialize and meet new people. 

“I have really enjoyed getting to take the test and try some hard problems,” said Humston. “I also get to have fun hanging out with my friends.”