The Somerville Mathematics Fund offers it's annual high school engineering challenge in October.
The deadline to register is October 10. The competition is on October 20th in "The Cage" at Tufts University. To download the registration form, go to Somervillemathematicsfund.org.
Competitors must be high school students who are residents of Somerville MA to participate. Students choose their 3-person team in advance, arrive on the day of the competition, ready to learn what their challenge is and to compete for wonderful prizes. Prior to the event, students must register by October 10 and to fund raise to support their team. There is a minimum $75 total per/team to raise and the best single fundraiser wins a prize.
If you have questions, e-mail: mathfund@gmail.com
The Somerville Mathematics Fund is an affiliate of Dollars for Scholars established in 2000 to celebrate and encourage mathematics achievement in Somerville MA. We will be looking for teacher grant applications in January and college scholarship applications in April.
The Somerville Mathematics Fund is an all-volunteer organization, which runs on donations and folks donating their time. For information check out our website. Then feel free to volunteer or to donate.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Outstanding High School Students win Math College Scholarships
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Erica Voolich (right) congratulates Somerville High School students Hae-Young C Joo, Emily Mei and Nickolas Menezes on their winning Somerville Mathematics Fund Scholarships.
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The Somerville Mathematics Fund is pleased to announced that they have awarded five scholarships this year, thanks to the generosity of their wonderful donors. The winners are such a delightful group of students who accomplished much while in high school are all planning on taking mathematics or mathematics-using courses in college.
This year’s winners and their colleges are: Hae-Young C. Joo will attend U Mass Lowell, Emily Mei will attend U Mass Amherst, Nickolas Menezes will attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rishab Sharma will attend Northeastern University, and Djinnie Timoleon will attend Hamilton College.
The all-volunteer Somerville Mathematics Fund is an affiliate of Dollars for Scholars. They offer renewable mathematics scholarships of $1,000 a year.
Three of the students received named scholarships. Emily Mei received the Salvatore and Maria Pizzi Memorial Scholarship. To read about the Pizzi couple whose family generously donated this scholarship go to http://pizzifoundation.com.p9.hostingprod.com/
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Erica Voolich (right) congratulates Emily Mei on winning
the Salvatore and Maria Pizzi Scholarship.
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Rishab Sharma received the Charlotte and Dr. Irving Fradkin Scholarship. You can read the story of Dr. Fradkin’s (and his wife Charlotte who worked behind the scenes to help make his dream possible) at http://scholarshipamerica.org/news_items/fradkin_history.php
Dr. Fradkin was the founder of Dollars for Scholars over 50 years ago and just this April retired from Scholarship America, the parent organization.
Djinnie Timoleon received the Alice Schafer Memorial Scholarship. You can read the story of Alice Shafer at http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Obits2/Schafer_Boston.html
Alice Schafer overcame challenges in her own life to become a mathematician and a founder of the Association for Women in Mathematics in 1971 and was their second President. She was a founding member of the Somerville Mathematics Fund board in 2000.
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Erica Voolich (right) congratulates Djinnie Timoleon from Prospect Hill Academy on winning the Alice Schafer Memorial Scholarship.
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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. It May 2011, it was recognized as the outstanding Dollars for Scholars Chapter in New England. Since it's founding, it has awarded $204,000 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 ninth 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.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Starting with Pizza, Ending with Pie and Celebrating Pi in the Middle!
Take a bunch of middle school kids, their teachers, parents and some volunteers add a good bit of math, some food, and what do you get? A π Night Celebration!
On Thursday night, 3.14, over three hundred students, parents, teachers, and volunteers celebrated π by eating pizza for dinner, then spending an evening estimating, creating, collecting data, answering questions, and ended with pies for everyone and π pencils for the students.
After enjoying pizza donated by the Bickoff family, the students from Kennedy, Healey, West Somerville and Argenziano schools went around to a wide variety of math activities set up in the gym and cafeteria. 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.
The event was planned by Wil Jacques (Healey), Ellen McPherson (West Somerville Neighborhood School), Jack O’Keefe (all middle schools), Kaitlin Souza (Kennedy), Erica Voolich (Somerville Mathematics Fund) and Scott Weaver (West Somerville Neighborhood School). 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 ten years. Star Market/Shaws (Beacon Street) generously donated most of the juice.
The wonderful volunteers from Somerville High School, the Kennedy School PTA, the community and teachers from Kennedy, West Somerville Neighborhood School, Healey School and Argenziano School helped to make the evening possible.
This Pi Night celebration was sponsored by 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.
© 2013 Somerville Mathematics Fund, Erica Dakin Voolich
The link to this post is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2013/03/starting-with-pizza-ending-with-pie-and.html
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The Somerville Mathematics Fund Announces Winning Teacher Grants
The Somerville Mathematics Fund, an affiliate of Dollars for Scholars, is pleased to announce the winners of its 2013 Teacher Grants to encourage mathematics achievement in the classrooms in Somerville. Again, the members of the board were pleased with the quality of the applications this year and with the exciting mathematical things that are happening in the Somerville classrooms. Through the generosity of John Bullock and Akamai, The Somerville Mathematics Fund was able fund a record number of wonderful projects this year.
The Math Fund wants to thank John Bullock for generously underwriting the following teacher grants:
π - Sally Brith at Next Wave for “Pre-Algebra Curriculum Materials”
π - Rebeca Byard at Brown School (K) for “One Hundredth Day Celebration”
π - Jayne Campos at Argenziano School (1st, SEIP) for “Math Center Materials”
π - Frances Carino at Winter Hill Community Innovation School (4th) for “IXL Software”
π - Diane Cline at El Sestima at East Somerville Community School for “Multiplication Rock”
π - Donna Driscoll at Argenziano School for “K-5 Family Mathematics Nights”
π - Susan Fothergill & Erin McGovern at Argenziano School (3rd) for “Math Games”
π - Debra Hurley at Kennedy School (2nd) for “Mathematics Materials”
π - Emma Mrozicki at Unidos, East Somerville Community School (4th) for “Mathematics Materials”
π - Patricia Murphy-Sheehy at Somerville High School for “Problem of the Week”
π - Charlene O’Neill at Winter Hill Community Innovation School (4th) for “IXL Software”
π - Monica Campbell Revert at Unidos, East Somerville Community School (6th) for “Mathematics Materials”
π - Sarah Rice at East Somerville Community School (1st, SEIP) for “Game Night”
π - Carmina Scuccimarra at Kennedy School (3rd) for “EquaBeams”
π - Kathryn Sousa at Argenziano School (1st, SEIP) for “Mathematics Materials”
π - Alison Walton at Healey School for “Mathematics Materials”
π - Linda Wiegenfeld at East Somerville Community School for “2 – 4 Family Mathematics Night”
π - Celia Taylor at Healey School for “K-2 Family Mathematics Night”
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. Copies of 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 (666-0666 or mathfund@gmail.com).
The link for this page is http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-somerville-mathematics-fund.html
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Teacher Grant Applications Due
Each year The Somerville Mathematics Fund awards grants for teachers in Somerville MA who have great ideas for math activities in their classroom, for after school activities, or at a family math night. The grants are for materials and are for up to $500 each. Teachers who have won before are eligible to apply again as long as they have completed the follow-up paperwork for their previous grant.
The deadline is coming soon, 14 January 2013. So, I you have a great idea but don't have the money for materials in your classroom, go to our website and download the application.
The deadline is coming soon, 14 January 2013. So, I you have a great idea but don't have the money for materials in your classroom, go to our website and download the application.
Monday, October 29, 2012
8th Annual Scrapheap Showdown-- Out on a Limb! Can you Cantilever?
On October 28, 8 teams of 3 high school students each from Somerville gathered in “The Cage” at Cousens Gym at Tufts University to compete in the eighth annual Scrapheap Showdown. Instead of 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 cantilever out of paper, tape and string. They could use foam-core and clamps to build and attach the base to their table The teams worked intensely, building, testing.
Time was called after three hours. Now was the time for the competition. Each team was judged by how well their cantilever could support weights at the end of the arm with minimal displacement. There was a hook at the end of the cantilever where a bucket with weights was hung for the trials to determine the relative stiffness and strength. They each had six trials, keeping the best score using this equation:
Beam stiffness = W L3
3√D
W = weight, L = length, D = displacement
The students' cantilevers competed against each other. The team with the highest overall score, was “Ace" (Flor Duarte, Emily Mei, Anthony Melchor-Montiel).
Second place was the “Freshmen” (Jefferson De La Cruz, Cesar Benavides, Ben Stevens).
Third place, “G.I.R. (Geninuses in Rebellion” (Nicholas Menezes, Christina Joo, Harrison Grams).
“W = R.P.S. (“Omega” = RPS)” (Prajwal Acharya. Ngawang Tsering, Ruthie Grossman) came in Fourth.
The teams could choose their prize in the order they finished. The other teams that participated in the event were the LuCKY GeNiUSEs, and the Team Pandora, and the Misfits, and the Bubots.
Second place was the “Freshmen” (Jefferson De La Cruz, Cesar Benavides, Ben Stevens).
Third place, “G.I.R. (Geninuses in Rebellion” (Nicholas Menezes, Christina Joo, Harrison Grams).
“W = R.P.S. (“Omega” = RPS)” (Prajwal Acharya. Ngawang Tsering, Ruthie Grossman) came in Fourth.
The teams could choose their prize in the order they finished. The other teams that participated in the event were the LuCKY GeNiUSEs, and the Team Pandora, and the Misfits, and the Bubots.
The prizes donated were: $100 gift cards (donated by Jay Landers & Jasper Lawson & Saraf Nawar, four Red Sox tickets (Sam Voolich), three $50 RedBones BBQ gift cards, six passes to the Aquarium & Museum of Fine Arts and 4 passes to the Children’s Museum donated (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 Theodora Babilye won a Newbury Comics gift card donated by the Voolich family. All competitors and volunteers went home with Scrapheap Showdown tee-shirts donated by Gerald and Debra Bickoff.
Fundraiser Theodora Babilye won a Newbury Comics gift card donated by the Voolich family. All competitors and volunteers went home with Scrapheap Showdown tee-shirts donated by Gerald and Debra Bickoff.
Designers & refiners of the challenge were: Adam Foster, Monica Fernandes, Richard Graf, Jay Landers, Saraf Nawar, Zbigniew Nitecki, Erica Voolich, Michael Voolich, Susan Weiss. DSG Communications donated the paper, Kanayo Lala gave engineering advice. 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, the Bickoff family, Jay & Jasper, RedBones BBQ 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.
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.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Meet our 2012 Scholarship Winners
The Somerville Mathematics Fund offers scholarships for outstanding mathematics students who lived in Somerville MA while in high school. These scholarships are for $1,000/year as long as the students take math courses or ones that use mathematics and mantain a B average.
This year, all of our scholarship winners participated past Scrapheap Showdowns [the source of the pictures] and some also volunteered at Pi Nights and K-2 Math Nights. All of these students were outstanding students at Somerville High School, challenging themselves with honors and AP math and science classes.
Zoe Blickenderfer wrote in her applications about her 7th and 8th grade math teacher at Unidos, Mr O'Keefe, who inspired her and left her with an affection for math. Even though now at times math is her most challenging subject -- thanks to taking AP Calculus-- it is the one that amazes her with its concepts and ideas. Her love of the subject along with that of science is reflected in her school work. Zoe was a founding member of the Green Club at Somerville High School and is very interested in environmental science and food justice. She was a member of the Llama Lords of Science Scrapheap Team which came in 2nd this past October. The first thing she ever saved money for was a telescope. It is not surprising that she is undecided about her major at U Penn, but her possibilities range from urban studies to astronomy and astrophysics. Zoe received our Alice T Schafer memorial scholarship.
Nathaniel Dempkowski challenges himself academically beyond his Somerville High School classes by taking a BC Calculus class on Saturdays at MIT. Nat has participated in multiple math and science competitions. His science project made it to the State Science Fair two years in a row after working on it with mentors at Momenta Pharmaceuticals and then Biogen Idec. Nat competes in monthly Science League competitions and was the overall top scorer in the New England Math League at Somerville High School. He was on the winning Scrapheap Showdown team, two years in a row. It isn't surprising that he plans on majoring in engineering at Northeastern University. Amazingly he still finds time to run on the cross-country team.
Along with his academic classes, Nathan Long was busy on various sports teams, the Science League team, and the band while in high school. He took AP Calculus at MIT on the weekends. As a junior he became interested in economics and investment theory and discovered a connection and application to the mathematics he had been learning. He was on the winning Scrapheap Showdown team, two years in a row. He is planning on majoring in economics at Tufts University.
In addition to Felice Mancini competing in Science League events and various community activities outside school, he participated in the SERAPO Foreign Exchange Program with Gaeta, Italy. Felice wrote about his experience working at Fire Escape Services listening to discussions about the design and construction of fire escapes which was clearly connected to his lifelong interest in how things work and how they are constructed. It isn't surprising that he is planning on majoring in mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Along with her school work, Michele Mei played in the band, started the Garden club, worked on the Green Club, participated in Science League competitions, and captained the tennis team. Over the summer she participated in Biogen Idec's biotechnology program for high school students. Michele is planning on attending Tufts University in the fall.
Yongkang Yu has volunteered for the Somerville Math Fund throughout high school along with participating in the Walk for Hungar for six years. He particpated in school activities such as the Green Club, Art Club and Science League. He was on the winning Scrapheap Showdown team, two years in a row. He wrote about his discovery that he could program video games and of the pleasure and excitement he gets when he sees the result of all those lines of code. It isn't surprising that he is planning on a major in computer programming and video game design at Northeastern University.
Yongkang received our Lt. Catherine Landers memorial scholarship.
Next April, The Somerville Mathematics Fund will be looking for applications for next year's scholarships. Applicants can already be in college or a senior in college when they apply; either way, they need to have lived in Somerville MA while in high school. The scholarships are renewable for up to four years as long as the student maintains a B average and takes mathematics courses or classes which apply mathematics.
The Somerville Mathematics Fund is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable organization affiliated with Dollars for Scholars, Scholarship America. The amount of scholarships awarded are based on the amount of money donated to support these scholarships. You can contact us about volunteering or making a tax deductible donation.
The URL for this site is: http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2012/06/meet-our-2012-scholarship-winners.html
© 2012 The Somerville Mathematics Fund
This year, all of our scholarship winners participated past Scrapheap Showdowns [the source of the pictures] and some also volunteered at Pi Nights and K-2 Math Nights. All of these students were outstanding students at Somerville High School, challenging themselves with honors and AP math and science classes.
Zoe Blickenderfer wrote in her applications about her 7th and 8th grade math teacher at Unidos, Mr O'Keefe, who inspired her and left her with an affection for math. Even though now at times math is her most challenging subject -- thanks to taking AP Calculus-- it is the one that amazes her with its concepts and ideas. Her love of the subject along with that of science is reflected in her school work. Zoe was a founding member of the Green Club at Somerville High School and is very interested in environmental science and food justice. She was a member of the Llama Lords of Science Scrapheap Team which came in 2nd this past October. The first thing she ever saved money for was a telescope. It is not surprising that she is undecided about her major at U Penn, but her possibilities range from urban studies to astronomy and astrophysics. Zoe received our Alice T Schafer memorial scholarship.
Nathaniel Dempkowski challenges himself academically beyond his Somerville High School classes by taking a BC Calculus class on Saturdays at MIT. Nat has participated in multiple math and science competitions. His science project made it to the State Science Fair two years in a row after working on it with mentors at Momenta Pharmaceuticals and then Biogen Idec. Nat competes in monthly Science League competitions and was the overall top scorer in the New England Math League at Somerville High School. He was on the winning Scrapheap Showdown team, two years in a row. It isn't surprising that he plans on majoring in engineering at Northeastern University. Amazingly he still finds time to run on the cross-country team.
Along with his academic classes, Nathan Long was busy on various sports teams, the Science League team, and the band while in high school. He took AP Calculus at MIT on the weekends. As a junior he became interested in economics and investment theory and discovered a connection and application to the mathematics he had been learning. He was on the winning Scrapheap Showdown team, two years in a row. He is planning on majoring in economics at Tufts University.
In addition to Felice Mancini competing in Science League events and various community activities outside school, he participated in the SERAPO Foreign Exchange Program with Gaeta, Italy. Felice wrote about his experience working at Fire Escape Services listening to discussions about the design and construction of fire escapes which was clearly connected to his lifelong interest in how things work and how they are constructed. It isn't surprising that he is planning on majoring in mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Along with her school work, Michele Mei played in the band, started the Garden club, worked on the Green Club, participated in Science League competitions, and captained the tennis team. Over the summer she participated in Biogen Idec's biotechnology program for high school students. Michele is planning on attending Tufts University in the fall.
Yongkang Yu has volunteered for the Somerville Math Fund throughout high school along with participating in the Walk for Hungar for six years. He particpated in school activities such as the Green Club, Art Club and Science League. He was on the winning Scrapheap Showdown team, two years in a row. He wrote about his discovery that he could program video games and of the pleasure and excitement he gets when he sees the result of all those lines of code. It isn't surprising that he is planning on a major in computer programming and video game design at Northeastern University.
Yongkang received our Lt. Catherine Landers memorial scholarship.
Next April, The Somerville Mathematics Fund will be looking for applications for next year's scholarships. Applicants can already be in college or a senior in college when they apply; either way, they need to have lived in Somerville MA while in high school. The scholarships are renewable for up to four years as long as the student maintains a B average and takes mathematics courses or classes which apply mathematics.
The Somerville Mathematics Fund is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charitable organization affiliated with Dollars for Scholars, Scholarship America. The amount of scholarships awarded are based on the amount of money donated to support these scholarships. You can contact us about volunteering or making a tax deductible donation.
The URL for this site is: http://somervillemathematics.blogspot.com/2012/06/meet-our-2012-scholarship-winners.html
© 2012 The Somerville Mathematics Fund
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