Grade 11 and 12 girls have the opportunity to participate in the Mathematical Olympiads for Girls, a yearly math competition organized by the U.K. Mathematics Trust, Oct. 7.  

Participants must answer five questions in the span of two and a half hours, per Math Teacher Frank Sousa. According to Sousa, in order for students to sign up, they need approval from a math teacher.

Math Teacher Mark Barsoum said participant turnout is usually low because the competition is a time commitment.  

“It’s a huge time commitment to prepare and participate in this contest, so we don’t get too many participants and currently no entrants,” he said. “Last year we had seven entries as the competition was offered as an unofficial at-home experience during COVID-19.” 

Furthermore, Barsoum said through providing this opportunity, he hopes girls become more involved in advanced math courses and look for more opportunities to challenge themselves.   

“The contest is designed to encourage girls, who have traditionally been underrepresented in high level math classes, to take on additional challenge in this discipline,” he said. “At ASL, we have seen an increase in girls taking higher level math classes in the last ten years and hope to encourage those that elect to do so with this unique opportunity to have written feedback provided by somebody external to ASL.”