Every year students have joined math club as an opportunity to earn extra credit towards their math grade, but a few changes have been made this year. Math club is now being held after school and teams will be formed to compete in various competitions but without the extra credit.
Many students now feel like there is no point in joining math club now that there’s no credit being offered.
“I liked the extra credit, and there’s no point to it. The only reason why I signed up was for the credits,” senior Carly Belter said.
Students across all grade levels feel that math club did, in fact, help their math grade with the extra credit being included.
“I feel like it did help my grade because I was in a very difficult math class last year, so whenever I would attend Math Club and participate in it helped me stay balanced with my grade,” junior Kyla Bassler said.
The teachers who are in charge of the math club recognize that several students will have different opinions about joining the math club now.
“The amount of students that join math club this year is absolutely going to decrease. It’s going to be mainly for students that want to be on a team competing for our school,” math club advisor Amy Helfenbein said.
Greendale administrators made the change because they wanted to focus on making a more competitive math team for the school.
“It gives you an opportunity to try all the math you learn in new and different ways and helps see how you stand against others in our area mathematically, and looks great on college or scholarship applications,” math club advisor Sarah Holland said.
Even though these alterations to the rules are just now happening this year, we wanted to know what was still encouraging students to join the club.
“I’ve been in math club since my freshman year but I wanted to keep doing it because I wanted something to challenge myself and grow my math knowledge,” senior Savannah Schindler said.
According to the advisors, joining the math club is a great opportunity to challenge yourself and put all the math students have learned into practice. Participating in the math club improves problem solving skills and encourages students to think more logically.
Additionally, joining the club and being on a team can be a fun and rewarding experience with the chance to build close bonds and creating a positive environment where everyone feels valued.
