Godwin Heights — When math teacher Derrick Vormittag asked his students how they wanted to celebrate Pi Day on March 14, he was thinking of a class celebration that would include a pie or pizza for the class.
His students had a different idea: a celebration for the entire school.
“We thought it would be a good idea for students to create something that teachers don’t usually do,” said seventh-grader Mary Uwase.
Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant pi (𝜋) and has been observed since 1988 on March 14 because 3, 1 and 4 are the first three figures of pi.
Vormittag presented the idea of celebrating Pi Day to the 27 students in his RISE math class, an intervention program at the middle school.
When the students proposed a school-wide event, they took the idea to Principal Kim Urbanski.
“I think they were surprised when I said yes,” Urbanski said. “I think it is fantastic that our students are doing something for the school.”
Vormittag said he was impressed with his students’ enthusiasm, creativity and how quickly they organized the event.
“They had three weeks to create an activity, develop rules and provide a material list,” he said. “They also had to demonstrate to me how the activity related to pi.”
Seventh-grader Paris Walker and her team, which included Mary, created a question-and-answer scavenger hunt. Students who completed 10 questions received two pieces of candy; those who finished the entire hunt earned a cookie.
Across the gym, seventh-grader Montrall Brooks worked to determine the radius of a small pie in hopes of winning one as part of his lunch.
“It was really fun to do the different things, making cookies and winning prizes,” Montrall said.
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