Power Outages and Math Competitions

Today, I woke up at 6:20, got ready for school, and was about to put my school uniform on until I saw that I had received a text message from my friend Lulu. She told me that we had no school today due to a power outage. I quickly checked/confirmed with my friends that we had no school, ate breakfast, and then promptly fell back asleep. What an amazing morning. :)

Other than that, I drove my brother and I to school anyways for a math competition- the MMPC, despite the fact that I could have stayed in my pajamas at home (which I would add, is real commitment on my part, as I do value my sleep). The MMPC is the Michigan Math Prize Competition, in which you get 100 minutes for 40 problems, and each question gets increasingly difficult as you progress through the questions. The MMPC has two parts, MMPC part 1 and MMPC part 2 (very original names, I know). Last year, I had qualified for part 2, and it was really difficult! I hope I qualify this year too.

I think I did well, although at the last second I filled in all my blanks with choice C (because there is no penalty for wrong answers).

Because there was a power outage, students had to search for locations in the Student Center near windows, which was the only light source avaliable. Everyone worked collaboratively, helping others find seats with enough light and some even moved to the language rooms to provide more space for testing. My friend, Lulu, and I, were one of those few who did move to the language rooms.

Despite these complications, the MMPC did run smoothly, due mostly to the cooperation between the students and faculty and our willingness to endure and commit to taking the MMPC.