During Term 3, students had the opportunity to participate in the annual Mathematical Association of Victoria (MAV) Maths Games Days. These days are a fun and interactive event where students work in teams of four to solve a variety of mathematical puzzles and challenged. The day is about building problem-solving skills, encouraging creative thinking, and most importantly, enjoying mathematics in a supportive and collaborative setting. It gives students the opportunity to extend their mathematical ability to a setting outside of the traditional classroom while developing teamwork and communication skills.
Congratulations to the following students who represented the College to an exceptionally high standard at the MAV Maths Games Days:
Year 7 – Monday 18 August
Hosted by Overnewton Anglican Community College
Devansh Puri
Sofia Samson
Danny Atanasovski
Joshua Stino
Rayyann Nabil
Zach Murray
Alex Mai
Lucas Jose
Year 8 – Wednesday 20 August
Hosted by Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School
Emily Buttigieg
James Antunis
Jamie Brown
Bradley Vincent
Jeremiah Hanna
Matilda Snooks
Year 9 – Thursday 4 September
Hosted by St. Albans Secondary College
Marcus Batin
Joshua Llano-Machado
Xavi Scriva
Teddy Jeske
Ann Shibo
Michael Gagliardi
Amelia Pai
Richardine Culas
Year 10 – Wednesday 3 September
Hosted by Trinity Grammar
Daniel Thanh
Carlos Tolentino
Lorenzo Calingin
Luaine Sanchez
Astrid Yu
Ylai Casem
Klark Nuestro
Cienna Victuelles
Here are a couple of student reflections about their experiences:
I’d been looking forward to this day for weeks, as I enjoy anything mathematics or academic related. Once we arrived at Overnewton and were divided into two teams, we were able to complete mazes and Sudoku puzzles as a warmup. We started the competition with a group problem solving activity where we received booklets full of worded problems that got progressively harder. To solve more problems, we quickly came up with a strategy: split the booklets in half so that we could solve them in pairs. After a quick break, we had our next activity, which was a relay where we had to solve a problem, get it checked, and once we got it right, run and get our next question. Then, after we had lunch, we had a very different challenge: origami. Some were very easy to make, and others were quite challenging. The harder the origami, the more points. The final activity of the day involved playing different mini games with the team sharing our table. Even though winning didn’t earn us any points, we still had some friendly competition with the girls from PEGS next to us. It was fun talking to people from other schools about our shared passion. Then came the awards ceremony. While we didn’t come in the top three, it was an amazing experience, and I can’t wait to sign up again next year.
Sofia Samson, 7KO
Recently a group of eight, Year 9 students, went to St Albans Secondary College to compete in MAV Maths Games Day with schools from all over Melbourne taking part in the day. Our group was broken into two teams and the day started off with a series of team puzzles like Skyscapes and Shikaku that tested our logic and reasoning abilities while racing against the clock to complete them all. After a short break, we were given a set of 25 problem solving questions to complete as a group that covered a wide range of topics and concepts that required a lot of understanding while being under time pressure. Then there was an opportunity to play some mathematical games against other teams before having lunch. We finished our day off with some rapid-fire questions, that required us to answer that question successfully before moving on to the next one. These questions required our team to quickly think , have good communication and some good luck to get through. Overall, even though we didn’t finish on the podium we still had fun testing our skills and working together in our teams while representing our school.
Michael Gagliardi, 9WO
