HiMCM: High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling

Junior Staff Writer Riley Harn '24

While most students would fret at the prospect of doing math for forty-nine hours straight, here at Mass Academy, students jumped for joy. The High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HiMCM) is an international mathematical modeling contest that Mass Academy participates in annually.

Starting on Wednesday, November 9th, students prepared their writing utensils and opened their spreadsheets. Some even began writing code.

HiMCM gives student groups two problem options, allowing them to pick which problem best suits their skillset. This year, there was much debate among groups to decide which problem to solve. One problem involved the modeling of a bee population while taking into account a plethora of biological and environmental factors. The other tackled CO2 emissions and global warming.

For Donovan Sappet, there was no choice to be made.

“We chose the bee problem because [it allowed] you to employ what you know and gain information through research to formulate an application about bee populations” said Sappet. “I mean, that's just cool.”

However, the problems were just one aspect of HiMCM. Mass Academy Mathematical Modeling Teacher, Mrs. Burns loved “the camaraderie” and “bond-making” that HiMCM elicited within students. In twenty years, no one will remember whether they modeled bees or global warming, however they will remember the memories they created with their classmates.

Due to the long hours of this competition, many students opted to eat out. A local restaurant, The Fix, saw more than its fair share of tired and hungry Mass Academy juniors during HiMCM.

“I went to the fix with Thomas [Park] and Luke [Pepin],” said junior McKenna Childs. “It was really fun and [I would] highly recommend it. [HiMCM] was a really enlightening experience.”

However, all Mass Academy students can safely say that it was not all fun and games.

“I loved the experience of working on a problem for a really long time, but it was stressful to coordinate across our schedules. It was chaotic,” said junior Sumanth Sura.

Staying focused over forty-nine hours was also difficult.

“Staying on track was the hardest part. You want to meet your goals, but you're really tired. You want to keep going, but you have to rest,” said Childs.

Completing this competition is a feat in itself and juniors should feel proud of the work they accomplished.

The results for HiMCM will be released at the end of January. Looking back to last year, Mass Academy’s Class of 2024 students should look forward to recognition, as numerous HiMCM groups for the class of 2023 won awards.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse