by Kyle Krueger

The GPML Math competition is coming up on Feb. 7 in Ames. If you’d like to attend, you must let Ms. Blazek know by Feb. 3. There will only be one more GPML Competition after this, and it will be at Dordt College on March 7. If you attend one of these competitions and qualify, you are able to go to state.

In order to qualify for state, a student has to attend a national GPML and must get a certain number of points on this test given by the Great Plains Math League. Any high school student must score the minimum cut off for one of the five tests given. Nobody has qualified yet, but senior Tyler Schwab has come close, missing at Iowa Falls by 1 point.

Students that are still deciding if they want to attend a competition may want some more information. Many of the competitions are in eastern or northern IA, so they stay over night because testing starts at 8:00 or 8:30 in the morning.  But if the competition is somewhere close, like Ames, they will drive up that day. It depends on how far the competition location is.

Ms. Blazek said that many of the sub tests are “challenging for our students,” and Schwab also said it “challenges you to do your best”

Participants of previous competitions include seniors Tyler Schwab and Jazzlyn Schulte, juniors Hannah Greene and Hannah Housh, sophomores Nathan Grey and Sadia Shafique, and freshmen Aaron Rothfusz and Rebekah Hallman.