The challenges of producing the right solution and figuring out a puzzle inspire two Bridgewater-Raritan High School math students.
“I enjoy thinking about the problems, and it is great when I come up with the right solution,’’ revealed freshman Jay Fang. “It is very satisfying.”
Chris Qiu, a senior, agreed with his younger colleague.
“I like working on many puzzles and then figuring out the structure and getting the right solution,” Chris said.
The two math whizzes delivered another solution: two championships this school year in highly competitive statewide and area competitions.
Bridgewater-Raritan High School repeated as the champion of the elite New Jersey Math League, where it placed first in a field of 134 schools throughout New Jersey.
Jay sparked this title when he finished as the third-highest scoring individual. He was correct on 34 of his 36 questions that were directed at him.
Then, Bridgewater-Raritan captured local bragging rights—and the championship—when it placed first in the Central Jersey Math League (CJML). Bridgewater-Raritan finished first among 17 schools that cover Somerset, Middlesex, and Union counties.
Jay and Chris were among the top 10 highest scorers in the CJML.
They also represented a team from the CJML that participated in the nationwide American Regions Mathematics League competition that was held the weekend of May 31-June 1 at Penn State University. Chris took first place in the individual round, scoring correct answers on all 10 questions he was presented, while he correctly answered the tiebreaker question in only 67 seconds.
The work of these fine young mathematicians is guided under the leadership of their devoted high school Math League Advisor, Jim Griffin.
Mr. Griffin, who is the high school’s STEM Teacher–Advanced Mathematics: Topics in engineering (AME), Introduction to Engineering Design (ED), and Robotics, spoke proudly of the students who represent Bridgewater-Raritan High School.
“Bridgewater-Raritan High School has been lucky over the past few years to have some stellar math students representing us in the Math League,” Mr. Griffin said.
He spoke about his graduating student, Chris, who will enroll at Harvard University in the fall.
” Chris Qiu is an exceptional mathematician in his own right and will be sorely missed next year,” Mr. Griffin said.
“I plan to major in math and maybe one day become a professor," Chris said.
However, Mr. Griffin is confident that the future remains bright when you have bright students such as Jay remaining at 600 Garretson Road.
“ Fortunately, we have several younger students, including Jay Fang, who are excellent problem solvers and will keep representing Bridgewater-Raritan High School well at math competitions.”