Article Written By: Lauren Chong

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As the first STEAM for All organization established, Orange County Math Circle (OCMC) aims to keep up its long history of success for the 2019 – 2020 school year. This year, OCMC plans to expand their programs and events to service more students. To accomplish this, they are both hosting more events and collaborating with other organizations to bring unique and educational events.

All throughout the year, OCMC holds multiple events such as fun nights, math clubs, tournaments, and competitions. During fun nights, students from third to sixth grade participate in fun activities that stimulate mathematical, logical thinking and problem-solving skills. OCMC’s various math clubs include the Elementary school math club, which focuses on educating 5th to 6th graders, Middle School Math Club, which focuses on teaching 7th to 8th graders, High School Math Club, which trains high schoolers for national competitions, and the Santa Ana Math Club, which helps the Santa Ana community by teaching school topics and preparing them for the Santa Ana Math Field Day. OCMC also hosts two tournaments: the Thanksgiving Tournament and the New Year’s Invitational. The Thanksgiving Tournament is open for students grades 3-6 and consists of individual and team rounds. The New Year’s Invitational is for grades 6-8 and consists of more challenging problems aimed at testing a student’s depth in mathematics. Finally, OCMC also hosts competitions such as the AMC 8, AMC 10 and AMC 12, which are national tests that evaluate students’ capabilities for problem-solving and mathematical knowledge.

Co-President of OCMC Kasra Lekan hopes to continue to improve OCMC as an organization. He is excited about the innovative things we are doing in OCMC and is pushing his board to be even more creative when thinking of how they want to engage with the community. He looks forward to the result of these steps. 

OCMC is different from other math organizations due to the breadth of their programs. OCMC works with all ages of students and provides access to mathematics to people regardless of socio-economic background or previous experience.