Scrapheap Showdown is Coming! Time to get your teams together

Each October the Somerville Mathematics Fund sponsors a high school engineering challenge for students from Somerville.

High School students, who live in Somerville, MA, form teams of three competitors ahead of time.  Then on the day of the competition they arrive at Gantcher Gym at Tufts U and discover what this year's challenge will be.  At the end of the afternoon, their machines compete against each other for prizes.  To compete, each team needs to raise $75, and there is an additional prize for the best student fundraiser.

Here are pictures and links from last year's challenge.

Here is the link to download the entry form which is due on 17 October.

If you have questions, email mathfund@gmail.com.

We look forward to seeing all the wonderfully creative students tackle this years challenge.

The link to this page is: http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2014/09/scrapheap-showdown-is-coming-time-to.html
©2014 Erica Dakin Voolich

Outstanding Students win Somerville Math Fund Scholarships

Introducing our winners at the Somerville High School Awards night

The Somerville Mathematics Fund is pleased to announce the winners of their renewable mathematics scholarships for 2014.  The Math Fund was founded to celebrate and encourage math achievement and these young women deserve to be celebrated for their work in math and science while in high school.

Jay Landers, Adrianna Keefe, Jennifer DiPersio, Joytika Bhargo, and Erica Voolich
(photo by Arthur Ingalls, Geskus Photography)

Joytika Bhargo will attend Tufts University, Jennifer DiPersio will attend Stonehill College, and Adrianna Keefe will attend Fitchburg State University.  Their scholarships of $1000 are renewable for up to a total of four years as long as they maintain a B average and take mathematics or courses which use mathematics.

Two of the scholarships are given in memory of two outstanding women, Adrianna Keefe won the Alice T Schafer scholarship and Jennifer DiPersio won the Lt. Catherine M Landers scholarship.

Erica Voolich congratulates Adrianna Keefe on winning the
Dr. Alice T Schafer Scholarship
(photo by Arthur Ingalls, Geskus Photography)

Adrianna Keefe won the Alice T Schafer Scholarship.  She is planning to study mathematics education at Fitchbury State University.  Dr. Schafer (1915 - 1909) was orphaned as an infant and raised by two aunts.  When she went to college at the University of Richmond of Virginia, women students weren’t allowed in the library and she was discouraged from majoring in mathematics.  She won prizes, earned a PhD, taught at colleges (including Wellesley) and among the things she is known for is helping start the Association for Women in Mathematics (1971).  Less known about Dr. Schafer was her helping to start the Somerville Mathematics Fund in 2000 -- attending all of the planning meetings and contributing to their work as long as she was able.  She is remembered for her passion and work to insure mathematical opportunities for women.  Since Dr. Schafer was committed to the education and supporting women in mathematics, Adrianna becoming a math teacher is a wonderful way to honor Dr. Schafer's memory.

Jay Landers congratulates Jennifer DiPersio on winning the
Lt. Catherine M Landers Scholarship.
(photo by Arthur Ingalls, Geskus Photography)

Jennifer DiPersio won the Lt. Catherine M Landers Scholarship.  She is planning on majoring in biology and psychology to eventually become a genetic counselor.  When Lt. Landers (1920 - 2012) wanted to go to nursing school (graduating in 1942), her grandmother opened a cedar chest were she had been saving dollar bills to help pay for her granddaughter’s education.  Lt Landers won a Bronze Star for her service during WW2, where she ran a field hospital outside Paris; she was about to be shipped to the far East when WW2 ended and so she boarded a transport ship for the USA instead.   Jay Landers and Jasper Lawson donated a scholarship in her memory, honoring her commitment to education.  Jennifer DiPersio's interested in genetic counseling is a wonderful way to honor Lt. Landers' commitment to nursing and education.

Erica Voolich and Jay Landers congratulate
Joytika Bhargo on winning a Somerville
Math Fund scholarship

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, is affiliated with the national scholarship organization Dollars for Scholars, was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage achievement in mathematics in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts. It May 2011, it was recognized as the outstanding Dollars for Scholars Chapter in New England.  Since it's founding, it has awarded $216,000 in mathematics scholarships to outstanding Somerville students.  Next fall, The Somerville Mathematics Fund will be seeking applications from teachers who teach in the city of Somerville who would like funding for classroom mathematics activities.  In October, the Math Fund will also be seeking high school students to compete in the annual Scrapheap Showdown.  For more  information, to volunteer, or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact Erica Voolich (617-666-0666 or mathfund@gmail.com) or go to www.somervillemathematicsfund.org.


©Erica Dakin Voolich 2014
The Link to this page is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2014/06/outstanding-students-win-somerville.html

Scholarship Opportunity -- applications due on 11 April 2014

The Somerville Mathematics Fund offers scholarships for outstanding high school math and science students who lived in Somerville MA while attending high school.  These scholarships are for $1,000/year renewable for up to 4 years total.

If you are a high school senior OR already in college, you are eligible to apply as a Somerville resident.  Go to our website, Somerville Mathematics Fund applications, and follow the directions.

This year the directions have changed, so please follow the steps.  You cannot win a scholarship without having filled out the Scholarship America online profile.

Pizza, then Pi and finally Pies — What More Can You Want on Pi Day?

Looking up during π night --
above the activities in the entry foyer was a plethora of circles
beneath students are estimating the circumference of circles by feel
and estimating the number of circular objects in each jar.

Friday, March 14 was Pi Day (3.14). What better excuse is there to have a celebration of math with middle schoolers than π?     About three hundred fifty students, parents, teachers, and volunteers from the high school, PTA and community, celebrated π  at the East Somerville Community School (ESCS) by eating pizza for dinner, then spending an evening estimating, creating, collecting data, answering questions, and ending with pies for everyone and π pencils for the students. 

Drawing a cardioid or nephroid using straight lines.

After enjoying pizza donated by the Bickoff family (discounted by White Sport), the students from East Somerville, who were joined by students from Healey, Argenziano, West Somerville, Brown and Kennedy schools went around to a wide variety of math activities set up in the halls, foyers and auditorium.  These activities included: bicycle wheel roll, guessing contest, tooth pick drop (Buffon Needle problem), drawing a circle the size of a CD, mystery boxes, π button design, π facts quiz, birthday in π, circle in square vs square in circle, drawing cardiod or nephroid, drawing concentric circles by folding, drawing circles by tangents, drawing circle by right angles, reciting digits of π, predicting how high of a pour, predicting circumferences and radii, graphing circumference vs diameter.

Estimating how far a wheel will go on 1.5 and 2.5 rotations.

The event was planned by Scott Weaver (ESCS), Wil Jacques (Healey), Erica Voolich (Somerville Mathematics Fund) and Lindsay Garofalo (ESCS).  Table Talk Pies of Worcester generously supplied small pies for all who came that night and large pies for winners of events.  Table Talk has generously supported this Somerville Math Fund event for eleven years.  Star Market/Shaws (Beacon Street) generously donated most of the juice.

Estimating the number of pieces of round candy in the jar.

Pi Night was sponsored by the Somerville Mathematics Fund.  This year, East Somerville students returned to their rebuilt ESCS building after their long hiatus after the fire which had destroyed their school building.  It seemed appropriate for π night to also return to the ESCS building— the location of the original Somerville Math Fund Pi Night in 2003, planned by Wil Jacques, Mary McClelland, Colleen Murphy and Erica Voolich.

Estimating the volume and surface area
 of three different sized globes.

When planning the first SMF π Night, the Math Fund called the Table Talk Pi Company and explained what π day was and Table Talk generously donated large pies for prizes and small pies for everyone.  Eleven years later, Table Talk Pies is not only still donating to the the Somerville Pi night celebration, but to many more.   In fact, this year Table Talk donated 43,000 pies to schools celebrating pi day.

Students put "Happy π Day from Table Talk" stickers
 on the pies before the π night celebration.

A big thank you to all the volunteers and donors who made this fun, educational evening possible.  It takes a community to celebrate π day!

Pitching pennies to see which is the more difficult target
aiming for the space between the circle and the square. 

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, an affiliate of the national scholarship organization Dollars for Scholars.  They were founded in 2000 with the mission to celebrate and encourage mathematics achievement in Somerville MA.  In April they will be looking for applications for college mathematics scholarships.  For more information, www.somervillemathematicsfund.org or mathfund@gmail.com or call 617-666-0666.

Taking a quiz on π facts.

©Erica Dakin Voolich 2014

The link to this post is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2014/03/pizza-then-pi-and-finally-pies-what.html

Have a Great Idea on How to Teach Math? These Teachers Do!

Many teachers have great ideas on how to make their classrooms a better place for their students to learn math.  The teachers’ ideas frequently outrun the budget schools have for supplies and their own ability to subsidize their classroom.  The Somerville Mathematics Fund tries to fill this need through the generosity of their donors:  John Bullock, Jasper Lawson and the Apple Tree Fund.  The following teachers won grants to encourage and support mathematics achievement in the classrooms of Somerville.

The Math Fund wants to thank John Bullock for generously underwriting the following teacher grants:

• Christopher Ames, Instructional Coach at Kennedy School & West Somerville Neighborhood School for “Think Tank Kits”

• Sally Brith, 7th - 8th Math/Counselor at Next Wave School for “Pre-algebra Curriculum Materials”

• Lori Brown Special Education 1st-3rd at Healey School for “Think Tank Kits”

• Allison Cahoon, 2nd SEIP at Healey School for “Kindles & Math apps”

• Frances Carino, 4th at Winter Hill Community Innovation School for “Fraction Games”

• Jill Christman, 1st at Argenziano School for “Math Manipulatives and Story Books”

• Michelle Crawford-Cranmore, 3rd at Healey School “Kindles, Math Apps and Manipulatives”

• Maureen Cronin, 2nd at Winter Hill Community Innovation School for “Think Tank Kits”
• Donna Dricoll,  Math Coach at Argenziano & East Somerville Community Schools, Math Nights

• Susan Douglas, 3rd at Healey School for “Kindles and Math Materials”

• Kim Flores, 1st Integrated SEIP at Healey School for “Math Manipulatives and Story Books”

• Jennie French, 1st at Healey School for “Math Games”

• Lindsay Garofalo, 1st Integrated SEIP at East Somerville Community School for “Math Family Breakfast”

• Diana Garity, 4th Beginner SEIP at Argenziano School for “Math Manipulatives”

• Michael Giardi, 7th & 8th Math at Kennedy School for “K-8 School-wide Math Mystery Day”

• Rene Holtzman, Newcomers to English 1st at Argenziano School for “Classroom Rug for Math Activities”

• Stephen Hughes, 4th West Somerville Neighborhood School for “Cuisenaire Rods and Materials”

• Denise Marie Lavey, 1st SEIP at East Somerville Community School for “Family Game Night”

• Alexandra Lennon, 2nd SEIP at Winter Hill Community Innovation School for “Math Manipulatives”

• Mary McGivern, Inclusion Specialist at Winter Hill Community Innovation School for “K-2 & 3-5 Math Nights”

• Julia Miller, 5th at Healey School for “Think Tank Materials and Fraction Manipulatives”

The Math Fund wants to thank Jasper Lawson for generously underwriting the following teacher grants:

• Ann Marie O’Connor, K at Winter Hill Community Innovation School for “Math Manipulatives”

• Charlene O’Neill, 4th at Winter Hill Community Innovation School for “Fraction Games”

• Sarah Rice, 1st SEIP at East Somerville Community School for “Family Math Game Night”

The Math Fund wants to thank the Apple Tree Fund for generously underwriting the following teacher grants:

• Maureen Roichaux, 7th - 8th Math/Counselor at Next Wave School for “Math Curriculum Materials”

• Kristen Ryan, SMILE at West Somerville Neighborhood School for “Pre-K & K Construction Center Materials”

• Kathryn K Sousa, 1st Argenziano School for “Math Manipulatives”

• Katie Starbuck, Math Coach at Healey School & Winter Hill Community Innovation School for “Think Tank Kits”

 • Barbara Strell, Resource Room Teacher at Healey School for “Kathy Richardson’s Mathematics Assessment Materials”

• Scott C Weaver, 7th - 8th Math at East Somerville Community School for “5th - 7th Family Mathematics Night with 8th volunteers at K-7th Math Night”

• Linda Wiegenfeld, 4th at East Somerville Community School for “2nd - 4th Family Math Night”

• Noelle Yankov, 1st at Healey School for “Kindles with Math Apps”

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, an affiliate of the national scholarship organization Dollars for Scholars, was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage achievement in mathematics in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts.  Over fourteen years, the math fund has awarded $69,637 in teacher grants in the city of Somerville.

In early April, the fund will be seeking applications from students who reside in Somerville for college mathematics scholarships.  Links to the scholarship application form is available at  www.somervillemathematicsfund.org   For more information, to volunteer or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact Erica Voolich (617-666-0666 or mathfund@gmail.com).

©2014, Erica Dakin Voolich

The link for this post is:  http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2014/02/have-great-idea-on-how-to-teach-math.html

Time for Somerville Teachers to Get Together Their Grant Applications

Every year the Somerville Mathematics Fund offers teacher grants for K-12 teachers in Somerville who have interesting and exciting ideas to support math learning and enrichment for their students.  The grant application is on the Somerville Mathematics Fund website and is due by January 13, 2014.

The maximum amount of any grant is $500 per year.  Previous winners are welcome to apply again as long as they have completed their report on the previous grant.  You can read about last year’s grant winners on the Somerville Mathematics Blog or by requesting a copy of this year’s annual newsletter to be mailed in early December.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, an affiliate of the national scholarship organization Dollars for Scholars, was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage achievement in mathematics in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts.  Over thirteen years, the math fund has awarded $57,648 in teacher grants in the city of Somerville.

In early April, the fund will be seeking applications from students who reside in Somerville for college mathematics scholarships.  The application will be available on 

http://somervillemath.dollarsforscholars.org and www.somervillemathematicsfund.org.  For more information, to volunteer or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact Erica (617-666-0666 or mathfund@gmail.com)

The link to this post is: http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2013/11/time-for-somerville-teachers-to-get.html

©2013 Erica Dakin Voolich

9th Annual Scrapheap Showdown-- So Many Marbles, So little Time!

On October 20, 9 teams of 3 high school students each from Somerville gathered in Gantcher Gym at Tufts University to compete in the ninth annual Scrapheap Showdown.  Along with the usual interesting “junk” in the center of the room when the students walked in, there were many pieces of paper, some foam core, lots of string and tape.  

The students were given their challenge: to design and build a Marble maze which would go between the far corners of two side-by-side banquet tables at a rigidly held distance of two feet apart. The challenge was a cross between a marble maze and a Rube Goldberg machine.  

The point system gave credit for creativity of designing obstacles and tricks for their marbles’ pathways.  The teams worked intensely, building, testing and adjusting their mazes.  

While everyone was working, the President of Tufts University, Dr.Monaco, stopped by and visited with every team and spoke to each of the contestants about their designs for the projects and their educational plans.

After 3 and 3/4 hours, the competition was held.  Each team had three times to have a marble run through their maze/Rube Goldberg machine.

Each of the nine mazes was interesting and sported differences in design.  We saw marbles that jumped the tables on what looked like ski runs or shot out a track and were caught on the other table, went through loop-the-loops, flew through a hoop, zig-zagged back and forth, rode a “cup” elevator up or down, or triggered a mechanism that dropped down, raised up or in some way set off another marble.    Some rang bells or started another marble continuing down the track.  The students' mazes competed against each other.

The team with the highest overall score, was “Back to Basics” (Elliot Rippe, Arjun Singh, Daniel Portillo).  

Second place was the “Swerve” (Caterina MacDonald, Melissa Baptista, Rachel Berry).  

Third place was “Mr. Scrima” (Anthony Scrima, R J Bingham, John Mulcahey).  

Fourth place was “Junk Punks” (Kelly Cachimuel, Ben Stevens).

The other teams that competed were "BKL," "It's About the Journey,"  "Celo,"  "The B-Team," and "MC^2"

The teams could choose their prize in the order they finished.    The prizes donated were: three $100 gift cards (donated by Monica Fernandes, Zbigniew Nitecki, Adam Foster & Susan Weiss), four Red Sox tickets (donated by Sam Voolich), three $50 RedBones BBQ gift cards, four passes Museum of Fine Arts and four passes to the Children’s Museum (donated by PriceWaterHouse).  

This event was for both fundraising and an intellectual challenge--all funds raised go towards a Somerville Mathematics Fund scholarship for an outstanding Somerville mathematics student.  Fundraiser Ben Stevens won a Newbury Comics gift card donated by the Saraf Nawar.  All competitors and volunteers went home with Scrapheap Showdown tee-shirts donated by Gerald and Debra Bickoff.  

Designers & refiners of the challenge were: Chase Duclos-Orsello, Adam Foster, Monica Fernandes, Richard Graf, Jay Landers, Saraf Nawar, Zbigniew Nitecki, Erica Voolich, Michael Voolich, Susan Weiss.  DSG Communications donated the paper.  Cathy Cannan and Michael Morgan, teachers at Somerville High School, recruited student teams.  Michael Voolich designed the T-shirts.  

Sponsors of the event included Winter Hill Bank, RedBones BBQ , CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, the Bickoff family, Jay & Jasper, and our wonderful host, Tufts University.  Various members of the Board worked on all aspects of organizing the event and worked to make it a success along with community volunteers. 

The Somerville Times and The Somerville Journal covered the event both online and in their published versions.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund is an affiliate of Dollars for Scholars.  They were chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage mathematics achievement in Somerville.  In January, they will be looking for teacher grant applications; and in April, they will be looking for scholarship applications.   For more information or to volunteer or to make a donation, call 617-666-0666, e-mail mathfund@gmail.com, or go to www.somervillemathematicsfund.org.

The link to this post is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2013/10/9th-annual-scrapheap-showdown-so-many.html

©2013 Erica Dakin Voolich