Students fill up on pi for Math Olympics

Yuma Lutheran School recently celebrated math with both pi and pie.

The Lutheran middle school held its inaugural Math Olympics last month, which celebrated "Pi Day." Pi Day celebrates the concept of pi, which is a number that never ends, said Yuma Lutheran Principal Gene Ewald.

"People don't normally associate math with fun," said math and science teacher Beth Joynt. This is why Joynt decided to organize the day as a way for the students to learn about the concept of pi as well as make math fun.

Students who take an interest in math will do better in school and go to better colleges, said Joynt. "In a general sense, being good in math means having the abilities and skills to compete in the marketplace, and (to) have skills in your daily life."

Students at Yuma Lutheran have different levels and skills when it comes to math, said Joynt. There are students who like math and those who have a harder time with it.

Michelle Watson, 13, is in seventh grade and said, "I've always liked math. I understand it more than other subjects - ever since kindergarten."

Haley Aivazian, 14, is in eighth grade and sees it differently. "I don't like math (because) it is confusing and it takes too long to do one problem."

Joynt said the pi event was a success in that it allowed the entire middle school to come together and learn something new about math, while having fun at the same time.

Megan Wren, 14, is an eighth-grader who enjoyed participating on Pi Day. "It was different and (it) let people show what they've learned and how good they are in math."

She also said she enjoys math because, "There is a specific answer (and) there are specific rules in the way to get the answer."

Matthew Joynt, 11, is a sixth-grader who enjoys taking math classes. "I understand it. In class some people have a hard time getting it, but most new things that are introduced (in class) I get it. "

"Our event that we held here was celebrating math and a lot of different things. ... Our theme was that if you can do math you can do anything," Joynt said.

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HEAD OF THE CLASS

Math Olympics event winners from each classroom:

- Over all winner - Linda Son
- Matthew Joynt - listed 87 digits of pi
- Victoria Sanchez
- Haley Aivazian
- Zenzi Price
- Michelle Watson
- Megan Wren
- George Gould

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Jennifer Lovell can be reached at
jlovell@yumasun.com or 539-6849.