When people think of pi, they might think of the delicious dessert topped with a dollop of whipped cream, however it is actually one of the most important numbers in the mathematics world: pi. This number is celebrated every year at the Pi Day event hosted by the Lakota District schools, and this year it was hosted on March 14 at Plains Junior High.
Pi, or 3.14, is the number that represents the ratio of the circumference of any circle, and this number is a very important part of both mathematics and science. This year marks the 10th annual celebration of Pi Day for Lakota Schools, however Pi Day has been around since March 2009, when it was officially recognized as a national holiday by renowned American physicist Larry Shaw.
Pi Day is a large event that happens yearly, hosted by Lakota Leads and is a math and science based event that parents and students alike could look into to try and find future career options along with learning something new.
This year is special, however, due to the change to Plains Junior High as the location for the event. This year’s Pi Day event did not take place at Lakota East as per usual and this change was made to “help to spread out exhibitors and provide crowd relief,” according to the Lakota Leads website.
The main areas of attraction were the main hall, and the gym that had exhibits showcasing all of the work the students had put in for their selected programs. The celebration stretched into the cafeteria where there were more exhibits alongside food and raffle baskets.
The Pi Day event hosted a plethora of organizations to choose from such as the S.T.E.M. Lab, Cincinnati Astronomical Society, Lakota East HOSA Future Health Professionals, and the UC Neuroscience which had a real human brain. The Neuroscience center was a seller to many, includingLakota parent Jenny.
“My son is excited about the human brain, and the robots,” Jenny told Spark.
The UC Neuroscience Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio had their own exhibit; this exhibit allowed children and parents alike to touch and learn about the different parts of a real human brain.
Many of the teachers at Plains volunteered to help with some of the activities at the Pi Day event, such as Gifted Intervention Specialist Debbie Roberts.
“The main thing is just that doing puzzles and things like that can be really fun and engaging, and that learning is fun, you know, you can work your brain and it can be an exciting thing. Just all the camaraderie of all the other people doing it together,” Roberts told Spark.
The Pi Day event consisted of 45 exhibits, which Roberts and her team thought closely about the organizations they wanted to host.
“We thought about what activities would be helpful that the kids would enjoy the most like thinking skills, kind of stimulated thinking,” said Roberts.
Roberts proclaimed when asked what preparations were made for the event. Teachers were not the only ones who had a large preparation.
“We do Pi Day every year, and so typically, what we do is we have the engineering classes at Lakota East make the skimmers so they do it so that kids can launch it on the ground here,” said senior Hannah Kohlhaas.
