Walking into a Mu Alpha Theta meeting in math teacher Mary Larson’s room unprepared may bring a lot of headaches as you attempt to make sense of the heated debates between members arguing which math pun to use for this year’s t-shirt. Being members of the national math honor society, even the jokes are taken pretty seriously- though that’s not what the society is really about.

“Most of the time it’s to spread math knowledge and help others that are struggling with math,” senior secretary Hunter Smith said. “There are other aspects too, such as reaching out to do community service. That’s a very small aspect of it, but we try to do community service as much as we possibly can.”

With Mu Alpha Theta being the national math honor society and not just some random Vandegrift club, there are a few standards to uphold. Each member has to maintain a 95 average in an on level math course, or an 85 in an advanced course, to be admitted. But it’s definitely worth it.

“[I love] the tutoring aspect of it and how I can help people who are really struggling,” junior historian Amy Lee said. “It really pains me to see people struggling with math because I was the exact same way. I was always pestering my teachers, like ‘I don’t know how to do this!,’ so I like helping and helping is good.”

Some of the members today enjoy being a part of the society specifically because of their troubled past with math.

“Being able to give back to our math department, I think, is probably the biggest thing for me,” Smith said. “I remember my freshman year when I was in geometry I always struggled. I was never very good at it because proofs were the death of me. I had to come in for tutoring constantly.”

Whatever the reason for joining, the impact of Mu Alpha Theta members’ actions are felt by teachers and even their own peers.

“The whole thing about giving back- they can really give back to other students,” Larson said. “I used to have people literally sign up for my pit to have Mu Alpha Theta tutorial people. That part of it is a great way for [them] to give back to their peers. I think maybe there are things that [they] don’t see that [their] peers appreciate.”