News | Santa Maria Joint Union High School District

SMHS math whizzes proved that there were no “hidden figures” during the AP Calculus and AP Statistics Competition at Independence High School in Bakersfield recently.

Senior Maria Diaz was the school’s top performer in the AP Statistics division while Luis Herrera did the same in the AP Calculus competition, according to Math Teacher Douglas Silva.

Other representatives were Luis Gonzalez, Patty Perez, Marco Colin, Marc Moreno, Rickey De La Paz, Sandra Ortiz, Flavio Vargas, Joseph Balderama, Aaron Ardenio, Cristal Zacarias, Freddy Alonso and Jennifer Rodriguez, he added.

Diaz, who will be attending UCLA in the Fall, said: "It was a lot of fun to meet and compete against students from other schools. Competition is usually reserved for athletics so to compete in academics, especially math, was awesome. I didn't do as well as I hoped so this experience will definitely help me focus on preparing and studying more for the AP test."

Marco Colin, who will head to UCSB in the Fall, said: "There was a lot of competition and it was a Great experience to practice for the AP test, now I know what to work on and where I can improve in Statistics."

Cristal Zacarias, who is going to Cal Poly in the Fall, said: "It was a great eye opening experience. I am glad to have had the chance to practice before the AP Calculus test, thank you to our school district for sending us."

More than 15 schools participated, according to Silva.

“Though they did not win the team award, all students did great and represented Santa Maria High School in the best way,’’ Silva said. “The top four from each category and school were in the running for a team award.’’

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