By Ryan Derenberger
Franklin High English Teacher

Based on the enthusiasm of budding student mathematicians, the prestigious national math honor society Mu Alpha Theta has elected to open its newest chapter at Franklin High School.

Math teachers Amanda Graff and Judy Roth helped organize an official induction and took on the roles of faculty advisors. Principal Patrick McCusker served as the keynote speaker at the ceremony, which took place April 19th at Franklin. McCusker, a math teacher himself, commended the new chapter for their hard work: “I am very excited about having a chapter of the national math honor society at Franklin High.  It puts us among an elite group of schools who have students who are performing at a very high level.  The greater FHS community should be proud of those students, and I hope that having a MAT chapter here encourages other students to do their best so that they can be inducted in future years.  I'm proud of all of our new members.”

The national math honor society maintains high standards for admission. Franklin’s first class of inductees includes 12 juniors, all of whom are currently enrolled in AP Calculus. They have maintained a 3.0 average or higher in all of their high school math classes and are studying at a level at least two years beyond geometry.

The inductees plan on organizing peer tutoring for the remainder of the school year. This is an especially important task, as the mandatory Maryland State High School Assessments are scheduled for May and class finals follow soon after.

The inductees are also planning on fundraising for and entering into math competitions all along the East coast next school year. To garner interest, the society will begin holding school-wide competitions at Franklin for the math game “24”, where students must intuit a combination of multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction to convert four integers into the number “24.” Ms. Graff indicated that this year’s math students have really taken to these games and see them as fun, competitive challenges. Graff added, “These students are now bringing the math competition at Franklin to its most cerebral level”

Ms. Graff and Ms. Roth are also planning on organizing an annual scholarship to award top members and help with the growing cost of higher education. “These students work hard and deserve to be recognized,” said Graff. “I have taught almost all of them, and it is truly an honor.”