Downtown Mathematics Invitational Postponed to April

The annual Downtown Mathematics Invitational (DMI) held at Stuyvesant High School was unexpectedly postponed this year. The DOE closed all school buildings on the weekend of January 29, due to the massive snowstorm that took place, leaving the DMI without an event site. Previously scheduled for January 30, the event has been postponed to April 30.

The DMI is an annual math competition hosted by Stuyvesant High School open to all New York City high school students. The event is run by student volunteers from the Stuyvesant Math Team who write, administer, and grade the examinations.

Typically an in-person event open to all students of the Greater New York area, the DMI was held virtually last year due to the pandemic. Due to loosened COVID restrictions, the event was planned to be in-person with adjustments such as social distancing measures implemented. “COVID has affected the competition by making it so the 2020 DMI had to be held virtually. This year, the in-person competition was mainly unaffected, since we usually have teams in their own rooms for half of the competition, so social-distancing is enforced,” Math Team faculty advisor Brian Sterr said.

Though there was little choice but to postpone the date due to the blizzard, it was pushed by three months due to difficulty securing an earlier date. “Between SING!, our school vacations, private school vacations, the school’s different spring events, and other commitments, there just wasn’t a good time for the competition until [April],” junior and DMI Scoring Department Leader Jacob Paltrowitz said.

The extra time, however, has allowed for further preparation for the event. “For the finance department specifically, postponing the event has given us more time to reach out to organizations and obtain sponsorships,” senior and DMI organizer Jennifer Sun said.

Organizers also noted that while the postponement did not directly affect the administration of the exam, it allowed for a greater number of teams to register, as well as for teams to prepare. “It didn’t really change our job much. We’ll still be scoring the exam as usual once it’s been hosted, we’ve just got to wait a little longer. ” Paltrowitz said. “Our primary interest is that as many NYC students as possible have the opportunity to enjoy their common love of math. This means our primary goal is to make sure that as many as possible can attend, and the best date for that was April 30.”

Though the event was ultimately postponed, the organizers still express excitement to bring back an in-person event. “While online events are certainly convenient, hosting DMI in-person gives participants a chance to be together and interact with others in a way that Zoom can’t really replicate. That is why we are prioritizing hosting an in-person event this year,” Sun said.