Math can be fun and that’s what Los Altos High School’s Math Club showed through its inaugural Math Bowl. The March 8 event brought together 50 local middle school students for a day of math activities and tests.
Aimed to introduce younger students to competitive math in a non-intimidating setting, students from Egan Junior High, Bullis Charter School and Pinewood School were invited to participate.
“It’s good for them to be able to have the chance to explore math in a fun and low-pressure way,” junior Amanda Wang said.
The event was structured to give students time for both competition and math activities. They kicked off with an hour-long individual round – a 20-question test, followed by a team round, tiebreaks and three math activities.
“Our activities were aimed at introducing them to other math skills and encouraging them to explore maths outside of competitions,” President junior Maddie Hu said.
These activities included Buffon’s needle activity to estimate pi, a presentation on higher level math and an “estimathon”, an activity built for real world predictions.
The contest showcased the talents of middle schoolers. In the main individual event, Bullis Charter School 8th grader Dylan Wang placed first with 17 points, followed by Bullis Charter School 7th grader David Chen and Egan 8th grader Ethan Yuan took third. Overall, Bullis Charter School finished first in the team round. “It was harder than I expected,” winner Dylan Wang said. “The problems were pretty high quality for a middle school tournament.”
According to club advisor Adam Anderson, the event was the biggest that Math Club has ever hosted. Club members began coordinating in early 2025, but faced issues with scheduling, finding facilities and acquiring funding.
Looking ahead, club leaders say they hope this year’s tournament becomes the start of a lasting tradition at Los Altos. The goal is to establish Math Bowl as an annual event, with plans already in motion to expand its reach next year.
“We hope to improve the tournament by opening it to more members of the community,” Amanda said. “The goal is not just to keep the event going, but to keep getting younger students excited about math and encourage them to think about it more deeply.”
