Klamath Falls, Ore. – It’s an event calculated at boosting numbers of students interested in increasing their math skills.
‘Math Madness’ is an event where math plus competition equals excitement.
The concept was developed by student Beau Stork. “Maybe you could get more kids into math if you tried fun ways to integrate it into a competition.”
Hailey DeGroot was on a winning team in the first competition at Ponderosa Middle School last year. “I had a team of three, and we took a pretty good sized trophy – and bragging rights.”
All contestants had a calculated chance at winning big raffle prizes such as Kindles, I-pods, and Fitbits.
A baked potato bar and trivia contest helped boost the percentage of family attendance.
Stork notes those factors add up to a lot of student participation. “Last year, we had over a hundred students.”
DeGroot believes math skills are a common denominator for many careers.
“I want to be an architectural engineer,” said DeGroot. “And math is a huge part of that, because I need to decide how tall the buildings are going to be, what’s the square footage – and I think math is a big involvement in that.”
Beau Stork will be moving on to High School next year, but he hopes ‘Math Madness’ will continue infinitely. “I really hope so – It’s a great event that really helps the community, and Pondo here.”
The ‘Math Madness’ competition and family dinner are offered free of charge, thanks to donations from local businesses.
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