Math is used every day, often in ways that we don’t even realize. In March Cinnaminson High School students hosted third, fourth, and fifth graders from Rush School at its annual math carnival, which uniquely celebrates math. Honors Pre-Calculus students created stations and games to facilitate younger students’ exploration of math concepts, communication, and teamwork.
Mrs. Nicole Arbelaez, the director of mathematics instruction, started the carnival three years ago when it was initially a celebration of Pi Day. However, when Superintendent Mr. Stephen Cappello suggested hosting an event for the younger students at Rush School, Arbelaez jumped on the opportunity to expand the celebration.
Now, Arbelaez coordinates this event with Mrs. Yogita Fratto, who teaches Algebra II and Pre-Calculus.
Since Arbelaez already had experience organizing an event of this scale in previous years, the process of assigning students to projects and making the event fun for Rush students was easier.
“We understand the logistics a little bit better. We were able to split the jobs a little bit more,” Arbelaez said.
With help from Fratto, the event has become more successful since its debut. Fratto helped assemble projects, while Arbelaez oversaw communication: ordering prizes, splitting up the students into groups, and acquiring additional students for the other parts of the carnival.
She included leaders of CHS affinity groups, DECA, and other student volunteers who have experience with the carnival who wanted to help out with the day’s event.
One of these students was senior Amanda Camnitz, who developed a photo booth and interview station for the carnival. As a member of CHS TV, she and a few of her friends created a segment in which they talked with young attendees of the event.
“We just figured the kids just love putting on little costumes, holding up signs, and taking pictures,” Camnitz said. “They’re really excited to come out with us for a special interview because they can interview for CHS TV.”
Some other projecs at the Math Carnival included Ronin Segrest’s. The junior set up a card game-inspired station with his friends. Despite the effort on their project, bringing it to life resulted in a few challenges, including adapting it to a younger age group.
“The hardest part was putting it together in a way that made it more stimulating for third, fourth, and fifth graders,” Segrest said.
He also stressed the importance of being social and active with all of the participants.
“You got to be a good talker to little kids. You can’t be shy,” Segrest said.
Junior Omisha Sharma shared that her group created a game called “Stack It” in which students would stack a certain number of cups based on the answer to their given math equation. Like Segrest, she said she faced some issues adapting her game to the limited knowledge of the students she and her group interacted with, but overall she said she enjoyed the experience.
“I learned that this is a way to make math more fun, and for kids to be able to enjoy math and showing off their skills,” Sharma said. “I know it makes them really happy.”
Arbelaez said she takes pride in how the students take charge of the event and lead the day’s events.
Both Fratto and Arbelaez described the immense impact that the older students have and how they are inspiring the next generation of math lovers.
“They got to see the older kids, too. Kind of like ‘ooh, maybe one day, I want to be like that’ and ‘I want to be the person doing this,” Fratto said.
Amiya Miller, a sophomore who created one of the stations, said she wanted the students she interacted with to learn that math is not only useful but can also have an element of fun.
“It’s not just sitting in a classroom and learning. It’s engaging, and you can really participate,” Miller said.
Many of the students kept this goal in mind as they gave the younger students an opportunity to showcase their skills.
Camnitz said she hopes that the attendees learned something new, possibly a new math skill or a new way of thinking that they can apply to the classroom.
“The kids are excited to learn and practice those skills,” Camnitz said.
While the process of creating these projects is time consuming, Fratto said she is proud of all the work her students put in.
“To see their projects come to life was just amazing…Their creativity made it really, really good,” Fratto said.
With the success of this year’s event, Arbelaez said she hopes to expand the math carnival to even more people in the future.
“It really is something that, like, is near and dear to my heart…I would like to take this into a night event so that parents could come and experience these games with kids,” Arbelaez said.
With another success, the annual Math Carnival will continue to expand and develop in years to come, welcoming and inviting all participants and attendees to have fun while practicing math.
