Bryan Han

Senior Lawson Wang coaches the Blue Team in the Redwood Library.

Walking around the quiet Redwood Middle School library on a still fall evening, sophomore Fiona Liu overlooked the dozens of passionate middle school students as they solved practice questions. 

Liu, along with 16 other SHS students, is coaching competition math to Redwood Middle School students as part of the Toga Junior Math Club (TJMC).

Every year, over 100 students apply to join TJMC. After two placement tests, only around 50% of students are accepted into the lesson track, consisting of four color groups — Yellow, Green, Blue and Black — while the rest are offered to join the Test-Only group that only participates in competitions. Out of the color groups, Yellow and Green are both aimed at those with more beginner skillsets; they are available only to 6th and 7th graders, respectively. Blue and Black are open for students of all grades who score high in both placement tests, with Black being the highest level.

During the weekly meetings on Tuesdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Redwood, the coaches prepare the students for competitions like the AMC 8, AMC 10, AIME and Math League. They explain topics that are not generally covered in school math courses, including combinatorics, probability, advanced geometry and algebra techniques.

After participating in TJMC throughout middle school, Liu decided to become a coach.

“I used to be in TJMC when I was in middle school, and I felt very inspired by my coaches because they’re all really good at math,” she said. “They inspired me to pursue math. Now I’m giving back to my community by teaching middle schoolers.”

Junior Andy Lu also recalls joining TJMC as a way to give back to the community along with fostering his own passion for math. He notes the benefits of improving his own math skills and learning to better collaborate with his peers.

“Teaching math helps you get a better understanding of the topics you’re teaching, as well as helping collaborate with other teachers and coaches,” Lu said.

For Lu, one of his most memorable experiences is being able to see the students they teach succeed and dwell in competitions they help them prepare for.

Liu also enjoys the community of TJMC.

“We’re all very dedicated to math,” she said. “It’s amazing to have a community of people who also are passionate about mathematical inquiry.”

This year, the club is adding a new Speaker Series, an idea started by Liu and sophomore Bryan Han. Liu and Han worked alongside senior liaison Emily Wu, junior vice liaison Seabert Mao and senior head coach Lawson Wang to find speakers and advertise to both the middle school and high school club members. 

Liu was inspired by a summer camp she attended which invited speakers to talk to high school and middle school students about potential applications of math in their career and industry.

“Some angles we’re focusing on are, for instance, how AI is affecting math as a tool in the industries of math technology,” she said.

The first speaker event is scheduled to be held from 5 to 6 p.m. onon Zoom on Nov. 14. The club invited Nvidia engineering manager Lukasz Ligowski to talk applications of cryptography in supercomputing, as well as his general experience in pursuing mathematics.

She noted that the Speaker Series is not limited to students in the math club and encourages everyone to join.

For Liu, she hopes the Speaker Series will allow students to see possible career opportunities and create a bridge between math in classrooms to the real world.

“Particularly with AI causing massive upheavals in job markets, I think a lot of high schoolers feel a little lost about how we can locate the intersectionality of what’s in demand and what we’re passionate about or good at,” she said. “Math can often feel like a very abstract subject with no tangible applications, so we want to create a bridge between the math we see in classrooms or contests and the math that is actually used in the real world.”