Math Club has been a WHS tradition for over 50 years and today’s generation of matheles are continuing that tradition at competitions this school year.
“Math club came to WHS around the late ‘70’s. Mr. Ron Gilman was the first to coach math club with Berry Edwards taking over in the ‘90’s. Edwards was the math club sponsor up until 2009,” Math club advisor Amy Spunagule said.
Scott Gemes then came to be the math club sponsor until 2012. When Mr. Gemes moved on to administration, Amy Spunaugle became math club sponsor and is still the sponsor today.
“I absolutely love watching students be successful in things they think is hard,” Spunaugle said.
Students have many different favorite parts about being in math club. Some enjoy the competition and being able to show their hard work being paid off. Many other students have lots of things that bring them enjoyment.
“My favorite part about being in math club is going to eat after with my friends,” freshman Elizabeth Winters said.
The WHS math club team had a competition on Jan. 27, 2024 in Smith Cotton. This was in the blue division with teams consisting of Warsaw, Stover, Cole Camp, Smithton, Father Tolton, and Holden. They had a pretty successful competition with several medalists. Team 10, consisting of Levi Bilderback, Henry Breshears, Elsie Hughes, and Wesley Jackson ended up in 3rd place. Team 11 finished in 2nd place with team members being Ashlynn Adams, Jaxson Deckard, Drake Murrell, Michael Schliefer. Another 3rd place finish was Team 12, being Sarah Gilbert, Erin Goodpaster, and Hannah Wooldridge. Finishing with a strong 1st place medal was the Mixed Team of freshman Jasmin Myers, sophomore Brayden Henderson, junior Logan Gemes, and senior Lovlie Haidusek.
The Mathletes participated in an earlier competition as well this year on Nov. 6, 2023 and found great success. This competition was held in Warrensburg. The mixed team consisted of Elizabeth Winters, Jessie Bilderback, Logan Gemes, and Lovelie Haidusek. The freshman team placed third, consisting of Jordan Dove, Barron Ward, and Aleanah Yoder. The sophomore team, consisting of Elsie Hughes and Serenity Miller placed fourth. Junior mathletes Ashlynn Adams and Micheal Schliefert placed third. The senior team of Alyson Alcantara, Charlotte Alspaugh, Hannah Wooldridge, and Elliot Kowal placed third as well.
“It was a great day! I love that students are willing to get up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday to go take math tests. If you could experience what I do when I see them win their awards, you would understand why we have this club! I get to spend the day with some really amazing kids. They get to shine in their strengths and have fun doing it. I was very proud of them coming in second place when competing in the large division against schools like Lee’s Summit North, Father Tolton, Smith Cotton, among others,” Spunaugle said.
