Palmer celebrates Pi

Every year March 14 is Pi Day at Palmer High -- a mathematical celebration of the ratio of the distance around a circle divided by the diameter of the circle.

This year was the seventh-annual schoolwide Pi Day, and students agreed that it was one of the best. Keith Kenley, Nick Kenshalo, Olin Bingham and Mark Psenak rocked the entire gym with their ode to their graphing calculator titled, "My T.I."

Joel Carrick led the audience in the Pi anthem, "Oh number Pi, oh number Pi, your digits are unending…" An enthusiastic Mark led his Pre-Calculus classmates with a reciprocal trig function cheer "CHO! SHA! CAO!" and also showcased how to combine mathematics and aerobics with the Quadratic Formula Song.

Mathew Block, Levi Lutz and Jeremiah Barnard wowed the crowd with their twirling light show which demonstrated angular velocity and that each revolution was 2Pi radians. A short skit by Ryan Lewis and Melissa Smith demonstrated that math makes friendships and romantic relationships stronger.

The competition in the mathematical art contest and the mathematical poetry contest was fierce. Vanessa Arno's "'" and Ruth Hulbert's "Fractal Spiral" tied for first place in the art contest. Last year's poetry contest winner Mary Brown, shared first place this year with Katie Applin. Brown's poem was an ode to calculus-related rate problems while Applin's uplifting poem examined the contributions of mathematics to our lives.

The boys' basketball team won its first Region III championship in nine years. During the assembly, coach Brandon Blake and the players attributed the win to the "Power of Pi!" It was noted that they won their first region championship in approximately Pi2 years and that they won it approximately Pi hours before Pi Day.

This year's event was held on March 15 because March 14 was a Sunday. Plans are already being made for next year's Pi Day.