Math Teams in Lexington Public Schools (Massachusetts)
The various math teams of the Lexington Public Schools system in Lexington, Massachusetts are renowned for its individual and team-wise successes in many events and competitions. The three major math teams in the Lexington Public Schools system are those at Lexington High School, William Diamond Middle School, and JOnAS Clarke Middle School.
Middle School Math Teams
Diamond and Clarke have math teams that are among the top in the region and in the country.
The coach of Diamond's team was Mr. Evagrio Mosca, who held that position until the end of the 2004-05 school year, at which point he moved on to take a position in the Belmont Public Schools system (he has since left that position). He was the coach of the 1999 Massachusetts Mathcounts team (which also included two Diamond students), which went on to win the national competition. Since the 2005-06 school year, Diamond's coach has been Mr. Kent Findell, the former coach at Winchester-McCall. Mr. Findell led Massachusetts' Mathcounts team in 2004 (which also included two Diamond students).
Once a teacher in the Exeter Public Schools in New Hampshire, Mr. Josh Frost became a math teacher and math team coach at Clarke, and under his leadership, Clarke has won the IMLEM in 2006-07 and 2007-08. (Diamond had been the league champions each of the prior nine years.) For the two years that he has been at Clarke, Mr. Frost has coached the MATHCOUNTS state team to attend nationals, and both teams have included Clarke students.
Mathcounts
Both schools have had good successes in Mathcounts competitions as well. Many students from Diamond and Clarke have reached MATHCOUNTS Nationals, and the last team from Massachusetts to be national champions (this was in 1999) included Diamond's coach and two students from Diamond.
New England Mathematics League (NEML)
Diamond and Clarke both participate in middle school NEML competitions, and both schools have performed remarkably over the years.
Intermediate Math League of Eastern Massachusetts (IMLEM)
Intermediate Math League of Eastern Massachusetts (IMLEM) is the major math league in the region. Clarke and Diamond have had superior success in the league, as the two schools account for each of the last 11 IMLEM championships between 1997-98 and 2007-08. Diamond had won the league nine straight years (1997-98 through 2005-06) before Clarke won the league the last two (2006-07 and 2007-08).
High School Competitions
In addition, a few students from Diamond and Clarke take a few of the individual high school competitions held by Lexington High School, mostly participating in the AMC, high school NEML contests, and the MAML-organized MMO (although no students not in high school are eligible to take the MMO Level Two exam).
Lexington High School Math Team
Although fierce competitive rivals at the middle school level, many math team participants from Diamond and Clarke also participate at the high school, and that has garnered success for the high school as well.
The coach of the Lexington High School math team is Mr. Albert Roos, who took the position when the former longtime coach, Mr. Saleh Rahman, retired after the 2006-07 school year.
WPI Invitational Math Meet
The WPI Invitational Math Meet, which has been held twenty times through 2007-08, has been won by Lexington High School nineteen times, from 1988-1994 and from 1996-2008.
American Mathematics Competitions (AMC)
Lexington High School has GeneRally done well in the American Mathematics Competitions, making the school honor roll for the AMC 12 in both 2007 and 2008. This has also translated up the AMC ladder, as Lexington High School has produced at least three USAMO qualifiers in every year since 2000, including seven in 2006 (a recent school record), four in 2007 (one additional student from Clarke qualified), and five in 2008.
Lexington High School's Math Department has received national merit through the AMC, as the Sliffe Award has been won by 7 Lexington High School teachers (actually, 2 teach at Diamond, but all are listed under Lexington High School) a total of 10 times. Lexington High School also has the most two-time winners (3 teachers; no teacher can win it more than twice). Indian Woods Middle School, Shawnee Mission, KS (10) and Frost Middle School, Fairfax, VA (11) are the only other schools to have teachers win the award 10 or more times.
Harvard-MIT Math Tournament (HMMT)
Lexington High School's math team has also sent teams to HMMT, where in 2008, Lexington High School's top team (known as "Lexington Alpha" that year) finished fifth in the sweepstakes. In past years, Lexington High School also has had a few students finish in the top ten in certain individual categories.
MML, GBML, MAML, and NEAML
Lexington High School also sends teams to Massachusetts Mathematics League (MML) and Greater Boston Mathematics League (GBML) meets, through which it has had superior success in qualifying for and winning the MAML (Massachusetts Association of Math Leagues) State Meet and the NEAML (New England Association of Math Leagues) New England Meet.
Lexington High School participates in the individual MAML-organized Massachusetts Mathematics Olympiad (MMO), with many semifinalists and finalists in the MMO Level One exam. Also, Lexington has had many students finish in the top 20 of the MMO Level Two exam, including 4 in 2008, 3 in 2007, 5 in 2006, and 3 in 2005.
New England Mathematics League (NEML)
Lexington High School participates in the high school Math League contests, usually finishing in the top five in New England each year.
Addendum
It should be noted that most of Lexington High School's nationwide competition has come primarily from magnet schools such as Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST), the Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology (AAST), and Phillips Exeter Academy, whose student populations consists of applicants from wider districts of people. It is thus to Lexington High School's math team's credit that it can accomplish so much as a public high school whose student population does not come from such a wide area.
See also
- Lexington Public Schools
- Lexington High School