Math Team Wins First at New Englands Coach Doster Ends His Choate Career With A Win
By Steven Choi ’10
News Staff Reporter
On Friday, May 2nd, the Choate Varsity Math Team travelled to Canton High School in Canton, Massachusetts to compete against sixteen of the strongest New England math teams in the New England Association of Mathematics League (NEAML) contest. The Choate math team accepts only six of the approximately fifty students who try out for the A team. These six students competed on Friday. The A team consisted of team captain Yifan Cao ’08, Yoshi Shiota ’08, Stephanie Choi ’09, Michael Lai ’09, Adi Rajagopalan ’09, and Andi Wang ’10. The Choate team, mentored by Mr. David Doster, secured first place in the medium-sized schools division.
This was one of the several victories for the Choate math team. Prior to New Englands, the team claimed first place in both the Greater New Haven League (the local league) and in the state contest. Coach Doster added, “We’ve had a clean sweep of all the contests this year. We had a great group of competitors this year. We’ve been quite a strong team all year.”
In Canton, the six Choate students were allowed to choose three of six rounds to participate in. In each round, according to team member Andi Wang ’10, “you are given a piece of paper with three math problems and ten minutes. All you can do is try not to panic.”
Referring to New Englands, Coach Doster said, “It seemed to be a fair contest overall. The sixth and final round did turn out to be much harder than the other rounds in the contests, but there was a twenty point spread between Choate and the nearest two schools at the end of the contest.”
Earlier this year, Mr. Doster notified the school of his plans to depart for the Collegiate School in New York City after the completion of the 2007-08 school year; therefore, Friday’s Mathematics Competition was his last New Englands victory. “I’ve really enjoyed doing this the past twenty years, working in the Greater New Haven League. We have had talented students every year,” remarks Mr. Doster.
“Doster’s been heading the Math Team for a while, so it’ll be sad to see him replaced,” says math team member Stephanie Choi. She adds, “He’s a really good teacher. He’s one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. I’m going to miss him a lot.”
Andi Wang ’10 comments, “Mr. Doster really pushes us to do our best, and he holds high expectations for us. It’s truly a shame for us [that] he’s leaving. This year he’s held practices every Wednesday, and he’s written many math problems, so he has spent hours and hours on the math team. He’s very dedicated. I hope he’s going to be really happy in New York City. I wish him and whatever math team he coaches next year the best of luck.” She adds with a laugh, “As long as they don’t beat Choate.”
Math Department Head Mrs. Currie explains, “Since he arrived at Choate twenty years ago, David Doster has been an outstanding coach and mentor for the students on the math team. He has not only helped our kids to develop and hone their problem solving skills, but he has also inspired them to work in a disciplined manner so that they are prepared to compete and succeed at the highest levels, year after year. He has indeed passed on his love for mathematics to many, many students. We are going to miss him tremendously, but we certainly wish him well in his new position at Collegiate.”
