On Saturday, May 5, members of the Nazareth Math Club made the journey down to the University of Illinois-Urbana Champagne campus to compete in the state level math contest. They met at Nazareth at 6:30 AM and took a Naz bus down state ready for a day filled with high-level math and lots of fun.

In preparation for this contest, the math club held meetings for those competing at the state level. They reviewed problems from previous years’ contests and practiced problems having to do with key topics for the contests. At U of I, the competitors participated in a total of two contests. Juniors Kelly McGarry, Jackie Nowicki, and Ethan O’Hare along with Seniors Lauren Van Daff , Mark Rizko, and Andy Hammond all participated in the Precalculus individual contest while sophomore Erin Getty participated in the Geometry individual contest.

Though the team knew that this competition was going to be more difficult than any of their previous competitions, their main goal for the contest was to experience state level problems and to enjoy the U of I campus.

“I enjoyed it and I would definitely do it again!” said Nowicki, who participated in the Precalculus individual contest.  Overall, the team  had a fun-filled day and thoroughly enjoyed their time at the University of Illinois.