When the pandemic hit, math meets were held remotely due to safety protocols. For the past three years, there also has been a lack of funding for transportation due to the budget cuts caused by the pandemic.

“We’re still struggling with [funding], but we, most of the schools, now have funding for transportation so we can now meet in person,” Peabody said.

With the in-person competitions back, the schedule for the Math Team consists of six meets with four of them confirmed to be in-person. Math Team has already competed at Exeter High School and Oyster River High School and has other upcoming competitions at Pinkerton, Portsmouth High School, and a state meet at NHTI in Concord.

“We’re going to kind of see how [this year] goes,” Peabody said, “but I think the first [meet] went pretty well, and you are able to see the kids you are competing against in person, just like any athletic match. What we did at our first meet was, on the bus, kids got to sit with other kids and work on practice tests and study up on, ‘Oh, what is this category going to be on?’ So that’s something I think is a little bit different.”

In addition to traveling, the Math Team provides a chance to compete as a group against other schools. Whereas the New England Math League allows students to compete individually at LHS.

“The difference between Math Team and New England Math League is that you’re only sitting in a classroom with other kids from Londonderry, so you don’t really get to meet other kids from other schools,” Peabody said. “New England Math League is just kind of like bragging points.”

The experience that comes with in-person meets has also gained interest in new members of the Math Team such as junior Simone Miller. She looks forward to what the Math Team has to offer this year.

“I really like traveling to the other schools,” Miller said. “It is nice to build friendships with people across the state.”

For this new school year, Peabody hopes to have a full varsity team and a junior varsity team. The varsity team consists of 10 students with a maximum of eight upperclassmen which leaves the last two spots designated for underclassmen.

“If I have more underclassmen than two that are pretty good, that doesn’t mean I can only put two underclassmen on the varsity team,” Peabody said. “If there are more seniors, great, they’ve done more math, but I can’t put them all on there, so I would have to have another team.”

If a full varsity math team is achieved, Peabody would like to have a captain to help with the team’s organization. Students are required to select three math categories to compete in. With a limit of five participants per category, not everyone is guaranteed their first choice.

“I have the captain help me with [the roster] because they’re able to communicate with [the members] versus me, while I’m teaching during the day,” Peabody said. “I’d probably be like, ‘alright captain, these two kids want to do the same category, one of them’s gotta do this one, one of them’s gotta do that one. You ask them what they wanna do and make a decision.’”

A captain would also participate in activities outside of the Math Team such as informing parents at club fairs during the year about Math Team or encouraging kids to sign up at pep rallies and Step-Up Day.

“There’s a fair that we do at Cawley Middle School and Hooksett to let them know what Londonderry has to offer,” Peabody said.

Before COVID-19, scholarships were given to the captains and the math team’s highest scorers, which originally consisted of 40 members. During the pandemic, there was less interest in joining the Math Team and fewer scholarships were given.

“I only gave [a scholarship] to the captain because that person was also my highest scorer,” Peabody said. “So that’s something that we can bring back if we have more interest.”

Currently, the Math Team is open to any new members looking to participate in regional math competitions. Even students who were not in honors math classes have joined in the past.

“Anyone can join the Math Team,” Peabody said. “I think that the kids who are taking honors classes would probably do better only because they’re more exposed to the challenging questions. But that doesn’t mean that someone who’s in a college prep class couldn’t do it and still enjoy it themselves. I think the benefit they get out of that is the competition piece.