MIT hosts Math Prize for Girls More than 250 high school girls converge on campus for competition and community. Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office September 20, 2011
On a beautiful, bright blue Saturday morning, as students soaked up the sun on lawns across campus, 276 girls from middle schools and high schools across the United States and Canada sat in buildings 4 and 10, puzzling over a set of complex math problems. The students came to compete in the
The finalists in this year’s Math Prize for Girls
Advantage Testing Foundation’s Math Prize for Girls, hosted this year by MIT. The competition, now in its third year, offers the world’s largest math prize for girls: First place carries a reward of $25,000, with another $23,000 divided among the remaining top 10 finalists. The prize money is certainly a draw for participants, some of whom have traveled thousands of miles for the chance to compete. For many others, like this year’s first-place winner, Victoria Xia, the competition is also a chance to be part of a community that they wouldn’t normally find at home. “If you look at our math team in school, the vast majority are guys,” says Xia, a high school sophomore from Vienna, Va. “It’s nice to have events like this to promote more women in the field.” MIT President Susan Hockfield echoed Xia’s thoughts in welcoming the competitors to campus. While Hockfield noted a continuing gender disparity in fields of math and science, she pointed out that MIT has made big steps toward righting that imbalance, with women now representing 45 percent of its current undergraduate body. “When you’re in high school, and particularly when you’re a girl and very, very good at math, it can be kind of a lonely experience,” Hockfield said. “If you feel lonely from time to time … remember there are lots of us out here, waiting for you to join us.” A numbers game In order to be eligible for the competition, students had to earn a qualifying score on the American Mathematics Competition exam, the first in a series of math competitions that determines who makes it on the U.S. team for the International Mathematical Olympiad. On Saturday morning, students worked their way through a set of 20 short-answer geometry, algebra and trigonometry problems during a 150-minute exam. While competitors and their families took a lunch break, judges scored each test, determining the top 10 finalists, and any ties that needed resolving. As participants gathered in Kresge Auditorium with friends and family for the final awards ceremony, there was a palpable sense of relief and celebration. Many girls wore hair clips in the shape of
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