On May 1st, nearly 100 members of Brewster High School’s Math Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, gathered either at the high school or remotely from their homes to welcome dozens of third-grade and fourth-grade students from CV Starr and raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Fourth-graders were invited this year due to the cancellation last year when they were third-graders because of the pandemic. The third-graders and fourth-graders were invited to attend a zoom call for a fun-filled half day of math activities and games, which were run by honor society members.
“We weren’t going to let a pandemic and our limitations stop us from having our event. It is so important to remind children that math can be fun. I think the CV Starr kids and our members had a blast too!” said one of the club’s advisors, Laura Kesselman.
During the event, third-grade and fourth-grade students engaged in math-themed activities under the guidance of their high school peers. They developed their math skills through workbook activities, played interactive math games like kahoot!, used pipe cleaners to build three-dimensional shapes, and even played a game of estimating the quantity of different items in jars. The younger students also had the opportunity to be “Zoom bombed” by the Math-A-Thon superheroes Octagon, Minus, and Fraction.
In the weeks leading up to the Math-A-Thon, third-graders and fourth-graders reached out to friends and family for sponsorship, collecting donations to St. Jude’s.
With the community’s support over the last 13 years, the Mu Alpha Theta Math-A-Thon has raised more than $52,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
This year, the Math-A-Thon raised almost $5,000 online not including the cash and checks collected. Brewster High School Mu Alpha Theta members are looking forward to their upcoming induction ceremony, as well as another successful Math-a-Thon next year.