The TrigStar is a scholarship competition but rather than being a simple questionnaire and essay, this scholarship is a tedious and challenging math test. The TrigStar is a timed test run by CalTrans and is offered to high school students nationwide. The test itself is free to take and focuses on the variations of math used by surveyors whose profession depends on taking the measurements of land. The surveyors make their measurements by creating virtual triangles and using the key aspects of trigonometry to find unknown values that they cannot physically determine. The students had to utilize formulas such as Pythagorean Theorem, Law of Sines, Law of Cosines, and other fundamental math concepts in order to master the difficult problems presented on the test. The TrigStar is timed and only allows the applicants one hour to complete four questions with multiple parts, and the time taken to complete each test is recorded and used to rank tests when they receive the same score. In cases of ties, the lower time results in a higher rank. Not only do the first and second place students in each class receive a money reward, but each score and the time is compared to other test takers statewide, opening an opportunity for the students to win on a larger scale.

The TrigStar was administered in Mrs. Buchholz’s classroom on April 26 for BUHS students to participate. The majority of the applicants were from her Math 3 Honors class. Students put their knowledge to the test as they strived to earn the scholarship or simply wanted to see how well they could apply what they had learned to the competition’s mathematical tasks.

This was the 5th year that the TrigStar was held at BUHS and Mrs. Buchholz recommends students to take the TrigStar because “for some kids, this is their first scholarship and it kind of gets the ball rolling into applying for other scholarships, it’s probably also the hardest scholarship.” Buchholz also advocates for the TrigStar because her students “can see that the math that they’re doing is actually real world math for some jobs. In this case, it’s for surveying.”

On Monday, May 15, the results from the test were announced. James Tomasek (Junior) earned first place and received a $50 prize. Although he is not interested in the particular field of land surveying, Jim expressed, “I really love trigonometry and all forms of algebra.” Jim also humorously remarked on the difficulty of the test by stating, “It’s just a bunch of guesswork and you just have to get lucky.” Arianna Pope (Sophomore) came in second place with a prize of $25. Along with the two prize winners, every student who took the TrigStar test was presented with a certificate of participation.  

Mrs. Buchholz concluded by saying, “It’s a really great test. I’m glad all my students have taken it.”