Sage Hill hosted bright mathematical minds in sixth through eighth grades for its Math Invitational on Feb. 28. Students from eight Southern California schools demonstrated their mathematical knowledge. The Math Field Day Service Learning group designs this competition to challenge both the mathematical knowledge of those students and their ability to collaborate and work together.

Throughout the day, the students competed in seven different events that ranged from mental math and algebra to geometry, brain teasers and engineering. Each section targets and pushes the students’ ability and allows them to demonstrate their mathematical brilliancy.

“It was a great experience to watch the kids having fun and enjoying the day,” Math Invitational Team member Alex Kong said. “The engineering project was especially memorable for their cheering and encouragement of each other.”

Within the engineering event, students competed to build a catapult using only a spoon, cup, tape and rubber bands. Despite feeling the time pressure, they used their communication and team work to further their team’s creation.

The sense of collaboration support carried over to the Countdown Round, where one student from each team competed in a one-on-one battle on stage.

“The highlight for me was definitely the Countdown Round,” Junior Natalie Song said. “It was really fun seeing everyone in the audience cheer for the contestants onstage, and our Countdown students displayed great sportsmanship and courage being up there.”

For the organizers, one of the challenges they faced was balancing questions challenging and making sure middle schoolers had fun.

“We had to make the tests challenging but not discouraging,” Senior Vera Yang said.

Despite these setbacks, the overall response from the students was overwhelmingly positive. “My highlight was seeing how much everyone was enjoying Countdown and cheering for their representatives,” Senior Kayla Chan said.

As the event’s lead planner, Kayla also walked away with the lesson that events like this will strengthen the bonds of participating middle schoolers, but also the Math Field Day committee members.

“It takes a lot of meticulous preparation and strong teamwork to create a successful event,” Kayla said. “As a leader, you have to make sure every detail is accounted for while also being flexible when things go wrong.”