Every year around the country there are numerous competitive math tournaments for students of all ages, ranging from local matches to national tests. These competitions are fast-paced and challenging, but they also offer kids a fun atmosphere in which to solve problems and distinguish themselves from other students. However, girls are significantly underrepresented at these events, much like women are underrepresented in careers in STEM fields. One girl is working hard to succeed in the world of competitive math and inspiring other young women at the same time. Meet Esha.
Meet Esha, competitive math champ.
Esha Ranade is a 10th grader at Orlando Science High School. She has been competing in mathematics events since she was in 6th grade and, to date, one of her biggest events was the national MathCounts competition two years ago where she was one of just four students selected to represent all of Florida. Esha is also proud of having qualified for the American Invitational Math Examination. One of her greatest accomplishments in STEM beyond math is applying her mathematics skills to her school’s robotics team, which regularly qualifies for the World Championship.
Competing in a Boy’s World
Esha is driven to participate in math competitions by her desire to learn new things from the event questions and from her peers. She thrives on the problem solving challenges and the reward of cracking the solution through a creative and unique approach. To get “in shape” for these competitions, like the upcoming American Math Competition for 10th graders (AMC 10), Esha trains with a math coach to help her tackle tricky prep questions. Another great resource she uses is the Art of Problem Solving website. This site challenges users to solve diverse problem sets that she wouldn’t come across in a standard math textbook.
As for her experience as one of very few females in these math competitions, Esha shares that her male peers are friendly, encouraging, and want to see her and other girls have equal success. One of the best benefits, Esha says, is that being one of the few girls offers her a great opportunity to bond with the other girls because they have shared interests and goals. Many organizations, like Orlando Math Circle (OMC), are promoting programming to encourage more girls to get involved in extracurricular math activities. Last September, Esha participated in Math Prize for Girls, hosted at MIT, where she had a great time competing with a very different set of challengers. Not only was the competition itself a fun experience, but she loved seeing all the passion the other female students brought to the event. In the end, it wasn’t so different from the typical male-dominated competitions, only a bit more inspiring for her to meet so many like-minded ladies.
Getting More Girls Involved
Today, Esha is working on a student project with OMC to rally other female students who who are excited about math and host a girls-only math competition in the near future. Supporting this is important to Esha because she wants younger girls to know that there are other girls just like them who love math and want to compete at the highest levels. For the past three year, Esha has helped her school host the Orange County Math Tournament. She noted that it is always a challenge finding female students to participate, so she’s aware of the scope of the problem.
To get more girls involved in math enrichment programs outside of school, like OMC, Esha recommends that these programs focus on broad community outreach to spread the word about the exciting activities they offer. A great way to frame this message is by telling students and parents that these programs are a way for girls who have similar interests to come together from different schools to learn from each other and develop new friendships.
Moreover, this project through OMC is honing Esha’s community leadership and social entrepreneurship skills as she works to promote the competition and the other great programs and projects offered at OMC. These include events like a mathematics scavenger hunt, collaborating on The Global Math Project, and creating student-made math videos with Po Shen Loh, Carnegie Mellon math professor and coach of the US national math Olympiad team, featuring the online program Expii. These videos of students solving problems on the adaptive Expii platform demonstrate how math can be fun, gamified, and accessible to everyone. More to come on this!
Finally, from Esha to girls who love STEM subjects: “Don’t ever be ashamed about your interests! Keep pursuing what you love and you’re bound to accomplish great things in your future!”
