More than 2,000 children, adults, and students attended New Mexico Junior College’s annual Pi Day Fair and Celebration this year! Hundreds of volunteers made the event possible, including NMJC instructors and students; a local motor cycle club; Hobbs Rotary; bridge players from Odessa, Midland, and Carlsbad; about 30 high school students; and even two elementary students. Generous support from local organizations and businesses ensured attendees had plenty of fun activities, prizes, and treats to celebrate Pi Day with a bang.
“Pi Day was SENSATIONAL!” reports the event’s head organizer, Professor of Mathematics Shyla McGill. One of the many reasons the celebration was so sensational is that it connects math to real-world scenarios and so many different subject areas. The day included “lots of fun, lots of science and math, some music and history. The community LOVES Pi day; it was a blast!”
You can tell just from the photos that everyone who attended had fun while learning. Activities included story time, Mobius strip building, a maze in the shape of pi, and calculations involving finding the volume of chocolate bars and crackers and finding the length and time it takes to make a pendulum swing. The Music Department had two booths that included activities on sound waves. The history of the food pie and the number pi was included in the day as well.
Hawkes was honored to be part of this year’s event. Training & Support Specialist Rebecca Craig enjoyed working with the children in the community and showing them how to make Cartesian divers at an activity booth.
Check out the fun in some of the photos below!
Want to see more of the fun? Biology instructor and filmmaker Brittany Gale created a video highlighting the events of the day:
