Inaugural New Mexico Math Meet takes place at UNM

More than 90 middle school students from across New Mexico gathered at The University of New Mexico (UNM) on Saturday for the first-ever New Mexico Math Meet (NM3), an in-person, team-based math competition.

The event was directed by Sean Choi, a New Mexico native and high school senior at Stanford Online High School. He founded both the New Mexico Math Meet and the New Mexico Math Team. He also coaches for the UNM-PNM Statewide Math Contest, where he helps students across the state build confidence and curiosity in tackling challenging problems.

Choi developed the idea after a visit to UNM by Po-Shen Loh, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and former coach of the U.S. International Mathematical Olympiad team.

"I wanted to create a math competition that felt fun and welcoming, where it's less about winning and more about meeting new friends," said Choi. "Through NM³, I hoped students could experience the joy and excitement of math as something collaborative and inspiring."

Held at the Science and Math Learning Center, the event featured students from Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Las Cruces.

The competition included three rounds, Bingo, Guts and Countdown. These rounds all designed to test problem-solving, teamwork and critical thinking. Two of the rounds featured 25 problems each, including logic puzzles and estimation-based "Fermi" questions. A live leaderboard tracked teams during the Guts round. The top eight teams advanced to the Countdown round, a fast-paced, elimination-style tournament.

The top 10 teams were:

1. Braincell Destroyers (Desert Ridge Middle School)
2. Labubu Demons (Camino Real Middle School and Bosque School)
3. AA Chargers 1 (Albuquerque Academy)
4. Bosque Pi Penguins
5. Dragon_DWFS
6. Da Potatoes
7. AA Chargers 2
8. Quantum Calculators
9. The Mathematicians
10. LeBron Maths

The event was organized by the New Mexico Math Team (NMMT), a group of high school students with experience in national and state-level math competitions. They are qualifiers of the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) and MATH-COUNTS Nationals. And they are also top-place winners of the UNM-PNM Statewide High School Math Contest.

Choi built the webpage last spring, developed his team last summer, and began creating rounds and pre-planning the event. Choi's team members were responsible for all aspects of the event, including problem creation, logistics, real-time scoring and outreach.

Other team organizers included Ada Dyer, Grace Hsieh, Aiden Kim, Alicia Peng, Laszlo Zolyomi and Daniel Choi, students representing La Cueva High School, Davidson Academy Online, Bosque School and CNM.

"My goal was to make math competitions more fun, collaborative, and memorable for students in New Mexico," he added. "I think we accomplished that. The level of enthusiasm and teamwork we saw throughout the event was exactly what I had hoped for."

For Choi, the turnout was more than what he could ask for, from the number of participants to the number of interested participants that expanded past New Mexico to places like California and even India.

"It exceeded my expectations! I originally estimated around 50 participants, but we had over 90 students. We even received messages from students and parents in California, New Jersey, and as far as India asking about participating," said Choi.

The event was made possible through several sponsors, including national organizations such as the Art of Problem Solving, Jane Street, the American Mathematical Society, The Daily Challenge, and Hudson River Trading. Key local support came from the UNM Department of Mathematics and Statistics and New Mexico-based education startup, Campersand.

"We had several sponsors", said Choi. "UNM and Campersand were our key local partners who really supported our vision. The UNM Math Department helped us reach more schools, provided space for the event and supported us every step of the way."

Looking ahead, Choi hopes this just the beginning.

"I hope NM³ continues to grow and provide a space where students across New Mexico can connect, challenge themselves, and enjoy math together," Choi concluded.

After the event, participants enjoyed pizza, an awards ceremony and a raffle of prizes.

Click here, to learn more about the New Mexico Math Team and NM3.