The journey east was more than worth it for maths-loving students from John Gray High School and Cayman International School as they tasted sweet success on Pi Day on Monday afternoon.
Students from those two schools took home top honours at the Clifton Hunter High School Virtual Invitational Mathematics Competition, sponsored by Housing and Infrastructure Minister and North Side MP Jay Ebanks, Cayman National and the Optimist Club among others, timed to mark the annual celebration of maths.
Pi Day is marked on March 14 (3/14) around the world to commemorate the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant – the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter – which is approximately 3.14159.
Though they did not take the top spots, Clifton Hunter’s combined team did make use of its home advantage to restore school pride in the final showdown of the contest.
For student Kaz Conolly Basdeo, 13, of John Gray High School, being part of last year’s contest was not only exciting, but also fun.
In fact, he liked it so much, he returned to compete at the 2022 contest.
“Last time… it was great, it was fun, exciting, a great experience. I would say [to fellow students] definitely try it because everyone uses [maths]. It’s a great thing to learn and do well at so try your best,” he said.
He added it was his love of maths that motivated him.
“I was chosen to participate in the competition and I like competition so I thought it’d be a good idea to participate and represent John Gray. I love numbers and I do want to be an accountant, so I like dealing with money and numbers,” he said.
Encouraging a love of maths
Clifton Hunter principal Richard Wildman hopes to inspire a love of mathematics in his students through the annual contest.
“It’s an opportunity for us to build students’ confidence in mathematics, and to also get more students being comfortable doing mathematical operations in competition style. The ultimate goal is to have students develop a level of competence in mathematics, so that they will attain higher passes throughout the school and even throughout the country as well, because we know regionally, there’s a challenge with mathematics,” he said.
Students do really well in English, he said, but when it comes to maths they have a “mental block”.
Honour roll
Year 6
Cayman International School
Theoline L. McCoy Primary School
Edna M. Moyle Primary School
Year 7
John Gray High School
Cayman International School
Clifton Hunter High School
Year 8
Cayman International School
John Gray High School
Clifton Hunter High School
Year 9
John Gray High School
Cayman International School
Combined team
Clifton Hunter High School
John Gray High School
Cayman Academy
However, he said, he believes competitions like the one held Monday can make a difference.
There is an overall focus on mathematics at Clifton Hunter, he said, as there are presentations and tutorials held as well as maths-themed displays around the school.
He added that with mathematics being such a fundamental component of “our students’ engagement and attainment as they leave for college or the world of work, it’s really, really important”.
With the signature yellow Staedtler 2B pencils in hand, the young maths enthusiasts put their skills to the test as they engaged in a battle of numbers to win the golden trophy.
Another aim of the contest, which used the Kahoot! game-based learning platform, was to encourage the development of numeracy skills based on the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum. Several primary school teams, including students from Red Bay, John A. Cumber and Edna M. Moyle, also took part, by competing in a maths face-off for their age group.
Mark Ray, director of the Department of Education Services, was on hand for the contest and lauded the effort of the students.
“We are throwing our full support behind it and with the significance today of Pi Day with a fun play on mathematics we want to help children to recognise that mathematics can be fun. I think it’s sometimes seen as something intimidating, but certainly we want to encourage them to see that it’s not anything to be afraid of, it’s something fun and certainly something that they can apply to their everyday life,” Ray said.
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