Photo By Octavia Johnson
The math department hosted its annual Pie Day on March 14 in Room 222 and 223 for 7th and 8th grade students to participate in activities to celebrate the number pi.
This is the second year Circle K International worked with the math department to host Pie Day. Circle K International is the premier collegiate and university community service, leadership development, and friendship organization in the world. Hannah Baysden, former president of Circle K, wanted to do an event last year using math for the middle school students to give back to the community.
Instead of the camp, Baysden and Professor Melissa Edwards came up with an event to celebrate the day pi was created. Baysden graduated in the fall of 2017, but Edwards still hosted the event for the spring of 2018. Latoya Brewer, Katie Floyd, Susan Hanby, Linda Falls and Sherlene Chavis also helped with the occasion.
They invited Prospect School to bring their 7th and 8th graders to the event. There were three activities for the students: making a pi skyline, discovering pi and creating a pie chain. For the “skyline table” the students were required to shade in the graph by the first 24 digits of the number pi.
The “discovering pi table” taught the students how to find pi by the measure of the circular object dividing the circumference by the diameter. For “create a pie chain,” students matched specific colors to certain digits and made a chain out of them.
Volunteers were at each of the three stations to make sure the students understood what to do. Edwards said that the10 students from various majors helped make this event a success. Due to time, the students only went through two stations but were having fun throughout of the event.
Edwards booked the Auxiliary Gym for next year to improve the spacing of the event.
“I look forward to the event progressing next year in the Auxiliary Gym,” she said. Edwards was pleased with how well the activities went and was grateful with the faculty, staff, and students who helped.
“I want to thank Dean Jeff Frederick, Chair of the Math and Computer Science Dr. Steven Bourquin for their continuous support,” she said. “I also want to thank the students who responded to the volunteer opportunity.”
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