Venomous Agenda Memoirs

Chapter 11: AIMEing High

On the last day prior to the mid-year exams, the school's administration makes an announcement at the beginning of the day about the exemplary performance of the Venomous Agendas on the AMC12, as well as the other participants at this competition that were not part of the math team. And there were a lot of them.

"Good morning, today the results achieved by our own on the AMC-twelve are released and, in the face of a record participation, it happens to be the year where several school records are broken. First, the individual record, previously set last year, is now one hundred thirty-three point five. And the team record has been beaten, with three hundred and eighty-one points for our best three participants! We also set a new record for the largest number of AIME qualifiers, with ten students qualified for the second phase of the competition. Also, the math team organizes its Christmas dinner on December twenty-fourth, with tickets sold for twenty dollars"

He reviews the manifest of the school's scores, realizing that its strong performance at the AMC12 further cements its position as a mathletic powerhouse in the state. He's happy that so many students were able to do well, and not just people on the math team. And most strikingly, there are 2 features of this year's AIME field that made it so different from previous years' AMC12 fields.

"Last year, we only had two AIME participants, both female, one of which is playing still. This year we even have a football player at the AIME; in past years, football players tended to balk at the AMC-twelve" Glen thinks out loud.

"Boss, your obsession for mathletics is becoming unhealthy. I'm happy for the math team, don't get me wrong, but it seems a bit much" the secretary points out to him.

It's now that I realize that what I made Catalena endure in sophomore year turned her off from mathletics. However, there is a fourth girl at the AIME: there already were the "Big Three" of Gen, Krista and Marcia, but there was Jennifer, too. A sophomore. Everyone else at the AIME was playing at the Math Madness, he reflects on the difference mathletics made between then and now.

However, if the reaction to the usage of Math Madness playoff questions for extra credit is any indication, it would make no sense to make the AIME available for extra credit. Especially not since the majority of playoff questions were similar in level to questions on the first half of the AIME.

And he also reviews the evolution in the student body's math proficiency since he made mathletics the main thrust of the school's extracurriculars, noticing that making mathletics aspirational to the students, especially with local role models, made students work harder in math, but it certainly didn't explain everything to him. Making the real-world uses of the material clear also helped some, too. And stronger math proficiency also appeared to have helped in science, too.

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Around the dinner table that night, he feels the need to tell the rest of the family about his plans for Valerie.

"When I started out as a principal, I inherited a school that was underperforming in math. I stopped announcing any kind of athletic results but it wouldn't have been possible without the risk taken by the math team. However, the mathletic success we currently enjoy, to be sustained, requires mathletics to be cultivated in middle school, too" Glen explains to his family.

"You only said your predecessor was too focused on sports" Selena complains about not being told the whole truth.

"Daddy, working these problems from the Math Madness and the AMC-twelve made me work so much harder than I ever needed to in a middle school class" Valerie then makes her observations.

"You have a better idea of how hard high school mathletics is now. Of course not many people would even compete at that level, but three years from now, it may very well be you that people in this town will admire" Glen tries to encourage his daughter but instead sends her in a tailspin.