Fun with Numbers
High School Math Contest a Long-running Tradition for Local Mathletes
It's an April afternoon on the Bend campus and things are a bit of a circus.
Dressed in a rainbow-colored tutu, a comically small glittery hat and striped socks stretched high, assistant professor of Mathematics Jessica Giglio doesn't seem outfitted for an average day at the office. But this is no ordinary day — this is COCC's annual High School Math Contest, where a circus theme has set the stage for nearly 175 regional mathletes to converge on the College for fun-spirited, number-crunching competition.
The event, which embraces a new theme each year, puts students through a series of game-oriented math challenges as the day unfolds across the campus. As Giglio and her colleagues — including a mime, two clowns and even a lion — watch them go, students from more than 15 schools, such as the Redmond Proficiency Academy and La Pine High School, are darting across the Mazama Gym in the popular sprint-and-solve relay race.
Sneakers thump and squeak across the gym floor. Students reach tables on the opposite side, grab pencils and quickly plunge into math problems. "Let's go Will!" someone yells out. "C'mon Krystal!" cheers another team. They ponder, scribble and sprint again. The energy is like a sporting event — with calculators.
"This is always such a fun day," says Giglio (now an instructional dean at COCC). "I think it's helpful for these students to see that they have peers from all around Central Oregon that think math is just as cool as they do." The contest, supported by a legion of staff volunteers and sponsored by the biotech company Lonza, got its start in 1978.
It's an atmosphere where math minds truly shine. "The contest was difficult, but a blast," recalls Josiah Cruikshank, who competed on the Mountain View High School team several years ago and helped take home top honors. "It helped me grow in my math and competitive abilities."
While having fun is the heartbeat of the day, there are some concrete goals too. The College awards a fully paid COCC class to the day's top scorers and all participants take a test for a chance to compete in the annual Oregon Invitational Mathematics Tournament. Many have earned that opportunity.
When the circus tent folds, so to speak, and the students head back to their schools, they do so with more than a feeling of camaraderie or personal achievement. They've taken a good look at a college campus. And they've seen how an academic discipline is literally celebrated by their community college, with faculty who fully embrace the experience of learning. Clown noses and all.
