The math department offers students a camp outside of school that combines improving test scores and bonding with classmates.

Calculus Camp is open to all of the Advanced Placement (AP) AB Calculus students. “It’s not a painful way to learn,” math teacher Kathy Hawes said, strongly emphasizing how “awesome” the camp is. At the camp, students have the chance to review old AP tests, work in study groups and take practice tests. There is also a trivia contest, and students get a T-shirt to bring home afterwards.

According to Hawes, going to Calculus Camp is extremely beneficial in improving AP scores. The practice test administered at the camp is considered a huge benefit to the students. “It is the only way to give AP tests in a real environment,” Hawes said. “You can’t really administer a three hour test in one hour of class.” Statistics compiled by math teacher Dave Deggeller show that the pass rate on the AP AB Calculus exam has increased from 95 percent to 98 percent since students have gone to Calculus Camp in 2002. In fact, the percentage of fives received on the AP test increased by 20 percent. Calculus Camp is not only academically oriented. Students who want to exercise can hike. The one night students stay over, a campfire is held where people can just hang out. “The camaraderie is fun,” Hawes said.

The camp, held at the YMCA Camp Jones Gulch in La Honda, starts on May 1. Students leave Friday after school and come back Saturday afternoon. Eastside Preparatory School, a private school targeting East Palo Alto students, is also invited to join AB Calculus students at the camp. The cost is $90, which includes meals, lodging, buses and T-shirts. “We do offer scholarships,” Hawes said. “We don’t want financial reasons to stop someone from going.”

The Santa Clara Math Field Day is a math contest that tests both individuals and teams. At the contest, held at San Jose State University on Saturday, March 21, middle and high school students competed in different subject-specific tests, ranging from algebra and calculus to such tests titled Leap Frog Relay and Discovery Quest. “It’s a random contest where they like to give out a lot of trophies,” junior Charles Chen said.

According to math teacher Daisy Renazco, teachers who taught the various tested subjects recommended students to go. Some teachers, however, just encouraged students who wanted to participate. The contest lasted from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and scores were announced at 12 p.m.

Students are scored in two different ways. In the individual events, students are ranked from people who scored the most correct questions to the least questions correct. In team events, there are a total of four people per team. Each person takes the test. However, only three out of those four scores are chosen and the total number of points is then tallied.

The top 15 people in the subject place. People who place 11th to 15th receive a ribbon and people who place first to tenth receive a trophy. One person placed top ten in Calculus, two people in Algebra Two and all three statistics students finished top 10. The Leap Frog contestants finished third and the Discovery Quest student finished fourth. Overall, Gunn placed third, behind Mission San Jose and Palo Alto High School.

While students are waiting for scores to come out, they are given Rubik’s cubes and puzzles to figure out. “If a person figured out the puzzle, they would be put in a raffle and have the chance to win a prize,” Renazco said. “Sometimes the prizes were the puzzles themselves.” Although the competition was not very exciting for Chen, he had the chance to “meet a lot of people from other schools and there are some pretty awesome people that you usually don’t talk to.”