Columbus North math team makes finals of national competition

A team of students from Columbus North High School have advanced to the finals in the national MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge.

The team of students, Helen Rumsey, Samantha Heathcote, Anna Kim, Erica Song and Vivek Hebbar, competed against 3,500 teams of 11th and 12th graders from across the country.

Organizers say that the COVID-19 pandemic derailed the traditional M3 Challenge final event, where finalist teams normally head to New York City in late April to compete. Instead, all judging is taking place virtually this year.

A panel of judges will assess papers from all eight of the finalists, gather commentary and come to a consensus on the final rank by Monday, April 27th. Winning teams will be awarded a share of $100,000 in scholarships, with the champion team receiving $20,000.

The event, in its 15th year, is presented by Philadelphia-based Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and sponsored by MathWorks.