<p>i found out about Mu Alpha Theta a few days ago by reading some of these forums. i went on the website and found information about starting a club, but i was wondering if anyone had personal experiences they wanted to share.</p>
<p>Was recruiting people hard? Collecting money, finding a sponsor, etc.
What did you do at the meetings? and how often were the meetings?
Is there a national test you compete in every year? When is it?
What is involved in the Mu Alpha Theta national conference? Who usually goes?</p>
<p>sorry for all the questions,
but i'd really appreciate some feedback [:</p>
<p>At my school recruitment wasn't hard at all, but finding a math teacher to sponser was. The sponser needs to be very responsible and at the same time need to be organized and be able to take time out for the club. we had general meetings once a month, but practice once a week. there's no national conference (that we participate in at least), but there's the state competiton. People who usually like math go. oOh, there are 2 national tests that you take before the 1st test. I forgot what they're called except there's one for precalc and higher and one 4 alg 2 and lower.</p>
<p>thanks swim2daend [:
how did you eventually find a math teacher? i'm only a sophmore and my teacher from last year and my teacher this year would definitely not be interested.</p>
<p>i'm a little afraid of failure :/ i don't know how many people would be interested.</p>
<p>also, what did you do during the general meetings? and practice?</p>
<p>and how do you sign up for the national tests?</p>
<p>sorry for all the questions.
but you seem like you know what you're talking about [:
i'm open to anyone else's suggestions as well.
thanks everyone.</p>
<p>I really don't know how to sign up for the tests (if you even need it.) If you look at the Mu Alpha Theta website, you could see that this club is seperated into different areas, so it could depend on that. To find a sponser, you need to find a GOOD teacher to be the "main" person. Then you need to find teachers who are willing to practice in different "teams (calculus, statistics, precalc, alg2, geometry, and alg. 1). You can recruit middle school kids who plan on going to your school in high school for the lower levels. In practice, we really just go through the book and try to learn half of a chapter-chapters at a time. General meetings are just a time to get everyone from the team together and go over important things like up coming competitons and like local math events in our area and pi day :).</p>
<p>oh wow.
so it really is a hxc math club.
ahaha, i didn't know it was so serious.
at other schools i know they just fool around
and get together once a month to do stuff.
thanks for the feedback [:</p>
<p>How hard it is to recruit people and get things done really depends a lot on how much effort the sponsor and officers are willing to put into the club. Last year we had ~30 members (we had an unusually good sponsor and some of the officers worked together well), but in previous years (where we had irresponsible sponsors) we've only had five or six kids come to meetings...</p>
<p>Oh, and it's important not to have meetings too often, because then you'll have nothing to do at the meetings, and people won't treat your club seriously.</p>
<p>
[quote]
What is involved in the Mu Alpha Theta national conference? Who usually goes?
<p>during the meetings, do teachers actually divide kids into group and teach?
at other schools, i've heard of people who just hang out, plan fundraisers,
and then just take the test. extra help is offered to people who want it,
but for the majority, they just want to meet new people + have fun.</p>
<p>I'm in this process too. What I've done so far is print all the "how to" forms on the website as well as their sample info. I talked to one of my old math teachers about pursuing it on the first day. I also told some friends about it, so I can spark some interest with charter members/board. Then we gave the packet of initiation papers to the math office and told them about our plans. A few teachers volunteered to sponsor on the spot. Right now, I'm letting them handle the administrative work and approval that needs to be done until it comes back down to activities and such. Some of the things I hope to do with Mu Alpha Theta next year are first, the possible merge of the already existing "Mathletes", afterschool tutoring, and evaluating the current math curriculum at our school and local middle schools that feed into our school. As far as getting money, if you plan to go to any national competitions/conventions, look for local businesses/restaraunts/sponsors in your area that would be willing to donate. Hope that helps :)</p>
<p>ah wow altimagoras,
your post really helped me [:
thank youuu. i will definitely get
started on it. we don't have any sort
of math team at our school, so i definitely think this will be successful.</p>