John Bapst Memorial High School earned first place among Division C schools at the 34th annual state math meet at the Bangor Auditorium on April 6, 2010. Approximately 1,000 students from all corners of the state competed from 96 high schools.
Each school sends its 10 strongest math team members to the state competition. John Bapst senior Lucas Hubbard from Holden was the third highest scoring senior across all divisions. He missed a perfect score by just one problem despite staying up late to watch the final NCAA championship game between Duke and Butler the night before. “I recently decided to attend Duke in the fall,” said Hubbard. “I had to cheer my team on, but the game ran really late. I felt fine in the morning. I was really proud of my score.”
Both Hubbard and fellow senior Anna Carmack from Veazie have participated on the John Bapst math team the past four years, serving this year as captains. Brendan Murphy coaches the team and Ashley Smith serves as assistant coach. Murphy lauded their efforts. “Anna and Lucas have been just phenomenal. In fact, we had a team of 10 really strong kids and everyone had a good day.” Carmack’s sisters Adrienne and Mary were among those other team members. Mary was the the fifth highest scoring of sophomore and Adrienne was the second highest scoring freshman.
Carmack described the atmosphere at the competition as friendly. “It’s interesting to walk into the competition because by this time of year everyone knows where they’re going to college. Everywhere you look you see people in their Yale, Harvard and Dartmouth sweatshirts. The strongest students represent their schools at the state competition.”
Hubbard decribed Murphy as a great teacher. “He’s really enthusiastic and he really knows how to get the concepts across to students.” Murphy emphasized the students’ hard work. “The kids worked hard. They practice for at least 30 – 45 minutes each week here at school, and I suspect most of them work additional practice problems at home. Even the most talented math students have to challenge themselves to score as highly as they did.”
John Bapst’s winning team members: Lucas Hubbard of Holden, Anna, Mary and Adrienne Carmack of Veazie, Maggie Bryan of Holden, Ian Szydlo of Glenburn, Thomas Easton of Dixmont, Becky Musgrave of Bangor, Omar Khan of Glenburn and Sarah Vankirk of Veazie.