Sangamon Sun

SIUE ESL Charter High School Students Commit Digits to Memory and More during Pi Day

You can almost see her brain cells in motion as she recites what has taken 15 minutes to set to memory … “7,5,1.” Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School (CHS) junior Jada Parker stalls and stops at “1”. Still, she captured first place for reciting the most digits – 50 – during the CHS STEAM/Pi Day on Tuesday, March 14. 

“When it comes to math, I have a good memory. Math is my favorite subject,” beamed Parker, who has hopes of becoming a medical doctor or a mathologist. Parker received first place and the praise of her friends. 

However, still holding the school record is senior Charles Shaw at 156 digits. Shaw set the record when was a freshman. He did not compete this year. 

“For three days, I constantly went over and over it,” said Shaw. “I committed patterns to memory.” 

Coming in second and third place for the most digits recited this year were sophomore Tatiana Neal, 37, and junior Laylah Leech, 18. 

“It’s vital to get students excited about math because it’s so important for their journey in life,” said Liza Cummings, PhD, CHS assistant director. 

Throughout the day, CHS math and science classes held Pi Day activities. In CHS faculty members Greg Laktzian’s and Stephanie Newton’s session, students completed an array of activities including a Pi Day Grid Art, a 3-1-4 Pi Day Math Challenge and a Math is Fun Geo Shape Challenge. 

“With the Pi Day Grid Art, we want to get them used to constructing different shapes,” said Laktzian, who teaches Algebra I.   

“We have another activity where students must use the digits of 3, 1 and 4 only one time each to arrive at the numbers from 1-30,” informed Newton, CHS math and English interventionist. 

In Mildred Fort’s science class, students worked on Pi Day puzzles, word search and frequency charts. “The students enjoy the activities, and they always look forward to Pi Day,” said Fort. 

“If we can better prepare our students for college math and for life, then we have won the best prize of all,” said Cummings. 

“One day my record may be broken at Charter High School,” said Shaw. “But they will have to study as hard and as long as I did.”  

The SIUE Charter High School is a school-of-choice for families in the East St. Louis School District 189. The mission of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School is to prepare students who are career- and college-ready upon graduation. To achieve this mission, the school and its staff will positively impact the educational and economic lives of East St. Louis, Illinois youth through individualized instruction in core academic subjects, exploration of career interests and aptitudes, assistance in realizing students’ talents, high academic goals, and expectations that graduates will become competitive employees for the 21st century. 

Original source can be found here