High school students and math? Generally, not a great combination. For most students, math seems to be their worst enemy — nothing could be worse than spending countless hours studying for subjects like algebra, trigonometry and calculus. However, the opposite is true for Math Club president Sophia Flagg, who is just beginning her fourth year in the club.

The Math Club studies various types of math with two main goals: to support students in classes and prepare them for the numerous competitions the club competes in throughout the school year.

“We participate in both team and individual competitions, we sponsor the AMC 10 and 12, and we do a MathCon; we’ve helped people go to the finals in Chicago. Also, we’ve done the Stanford math tournament and Math Madness, that’s why people find it fun,” Flagg said.

Flagg has already entered club participants into a few big-name events to kick off the new year: Math Madness, an online team-based competition, and the American Mathematics Competition (AMC), which takes place in November. 

Flagg is not just the club’s president, but its founder, too.

“I’ve been doing it for all four years of high school because no one founded it before. They didn’t have any other previous presidents. So I just took that on,” Flagg said.

Flagg has had a wonderful time in her years in the Math Club, and hopes to pursue STEM after high school.

“I like working in the team of the math competitions and even just out of school, we would do things that’s kind of outside of the class curriculum, and it’s very engaging,” Flagg said.