Math Field Day
Each Spring, the School of Mathematics and Statistical Sciences sponsors a mathematics contest, called Math Field Day, for regional high school students. Schools from the southern part of Illinois, ranging from Edwardsville to Massac County, as well as a few schools from Missouri and Kentucky participate.
The schools are broken into three divisions based on enrollment. For each school, the top three students in each grade level 9-12 constitute that school's team. (A school can send up to 36 students). A trophy is awarded to the top school in each division. Certificates of merit are given in each grade level and division to schools, and in each grade level to top performing students.
All students take the same exam, which lasts two hours. Topics on the exam range from beginning algebra and geometry through trigonometry and college algebra with a smattering of questions from beginning calculus, finite mathematics, and the unclassifiable 'clever thinking' problem.