Many students are unaware of the competitions and contests they can participate in, or are intimidated by them. But there is no need to worry; there is a myriad of competitions available that allow students of all talents to sharpen their skills and have fun competing with or against their classmates.

It was a sad day for the math club last June when its three leading seniors, often called the “Three Musketeers,” graduated together in one fell swoop. Besides just helping the club to improve mathematically, alumni Albert Gu, David Zeng and Amol Aggarwal added irreplaceable character to the group with their one-of-a-kind camaraderie.

With the first American Math Competition (AMC) coming up on Feb. 8 in the Small Gym, students in the math club will have a chance to test the skills they have been working on during their meetings every Tuesday during lunch and every Friday after school.

Cupertino Square, formerly known as Vallco Fashion Park, has a reputation for being a lifeless and boring mall. After undergoing multiple ownership changes in the last few years as well as major renovations, the mall still does not draw a substantial number of customers. Lacking popular shopping venues, the fact that the square does little to increase the small number of people it attracts is understandable.

The math club has created an outreach program into Redwood Middle School this year, removing the need for Redwood to hire extracurricular math coaches. Students from the high school now run the entire middle school extracurricular math program, with the help of parent volunteers.

Known for previously being the third fastest Rubik’s cuber in the world and for continuously succeeding in math competitions, senior Andy Tsao took home second place for the Santa Clara Valley Math Association (SCVMA) Senior Olympiad on Dec. 13, winning a trophy and a book as a
prize.