It’s time to pull out the calculators, as the Eastern Maine Math League host their Spring meet

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - A sea of school buses occupied the Anah Shrine parking lot in Bangor, as the hall filled with problem solvers.

The Shriners hosted the East Maine Math League’s Spring Meet.

Sixth through ninth grade students came together for the last meet of the school year, and the first one in-person since the pandemic.

Some students are fueling their love of math.

Greyson Ainsworth from Corinth competed in individual tests and team tests.

“I’ve always loved math. And so, when I got this invitation that I could do it competitively, I immediately wanted to it. Your teacher always says it’s not a competition, but now it is. It is a competition. And so, it’s really nerve wracking at times, but I like to just take your breath and go for it. So, I’m in first place from my school. I’m here and I’m competing against 560 Something odd students. It’s really crazy. Just being here and since I such an honor, I’ve been chosen as my team captains. I mean, it’s just crazy. I didn’t think I would ever make it this far,” said Ainsworth.

And some are warming up to math.

Maria Bevout from Blue Hill was hesitant to join the league at first.

Bevout said, “At first, I was kind of like, meh, I don’t really want to do it. Here we are at this big competition with 580 different kids, and I find that very crazy. I feel like none of this would have been possible without my amazing art teacher, Mrs. Longley because she really, really helped me think that doing this will really help improve my math and it really has. So, I’ve been very grateful and happy about that.”

With approximately 580 students competing and 194 pizzas consumed, it looks like a major sports event.

But, teachers and math league organizers say that the math enthusiasm is strong.

“We’ve had really great luck with having a lot of kids want to participate it is an extracurricular, but they seem to really enjoy it.”

Joseph Belanger from Hermon has competed at math meets at his local middle school and was selected to be a helper for this meet.

So, this time, he gets sit back and see the competition from another perspective.

“I think it’s really cool and I kind of see where they’re coming from because it’s not completely because of the math, It’s also I feel because of the accomplishment that they’re completing and like the teamwork,” said Belanger.

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