Math teacher Jason Wiggins' students work quickly and quietly, occasionally murmuring a variable or equation.
This is math team practice, and the high school students get together three times a week during the summer to hone their accuracy and speed.
Wiggins, coach of the Buchholz Mu Alpha Theta calculus team, recently received the national Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching, an annual award sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America.
The award was given to 27 teachers whose teams' scores ranked in the top 60 of an American mathematics competition.
The teachers were also recommended independently by three of their students.
"It was kind of exciting and humbling to be able to be nominated for that," Wiggins said.
During the summer, the math team holds a summer camp that lasts about five weeks, and each practice lasts for three and a half hours, he said.
The summer camp is designed to prepare the team for the Mu Alpha Theta National Convention, a competition that takes place July 13 through July 18 in Sacramento, Calif., he said.
Wiggins said the students have a friendly team atmosphere because they spend so much time together traveling and practicing.
"It's almost like a band of brothers, and there's a couple of girls in there too," he said.
Calculus team member David Jia said Wiggins is a huge motivation for everyone on the team.
"He has a really creative style of teaching," Jia said.
Wiggins said the best part of working with the math team is seeing the students succeed.
"Watching them win trophies and the excitement on their faces is a motivating factor for all of us," he said.
