Kalamazoo Valley Student Takes Second Place at Western Michigan University's Math Competition

Kalamazoo Valley Community College student Jeremy Kray received second place at Western Michigan University's Integration Bee, a math competition that is open to high school and undergraduate students in the region.

The event consists of two parts: a qualification round and an elimination round. The qualification round is a pencil-and-paper exam, with the top eight scorers advancing to the bracketed elimination round. In that round, competitors face off one-on-one at the chalkboard to solve integrals. The first competitor to correctly solve an integral earns a point, and the first to get two points advances. The integrals increase in difficulty as the rounds progress.

Kray said he felt ready to take on the challenge. His involvement in the college's math club also helped him prepare.

"I work in the Math Center as a tutor, and honestly, tutoring has prepared me more than anything else. The best way to really learn something is to teach it," Kray said. "In Math Club, we did a few practice competitions, and we got an integral review sheet of different types of integrals to practice as the full competition got closer."

Kray, who is studying physical therapy, said the Kalamazoo Valley community played a key role in his preparation.

"Everyone here at Kalamazoo Valley truly wants to be here," he said. "Between both students and faculty, everyone is invested in learning. The faculty here are high-quality educators and want to see you succeed."

He said the biggest takeaway from the competition was the connections he made with other participants.

"Between the qualification and elimination round, everyone was just talking to each other about the different problems," he said. "We were enjoying showing the different tricks we used to solve them. Turns out we are all teachers at heart."