On March 14, 2008 Eli Whitney’s magnificent Math Department celebrated (Pi) Day!  Math teachers, Mr. Victor Cooper, Mr. Justin Henry and Mrs. Felicia Williams, spearheaded the planning process as well as the execution of the event.  The department also includes Mr. George Reichert (Department Head), Ms. Latrice James, Ms. Teresa McAloon, Ms. Sharon Mitchell and Ms. Patricia Ripley, and Ms. Zaida Ruiz.

The celebration launched off with a Rap/Poetry/Song contest.  The first contestant, sophomore Kassey Brumell wowed the audience of over 100 students including the Tech Systems, Math Consultant, Mr. Alex Pitsas with a rap about the number .  She mentioned what is and how it is used in mathematics. She came in second place to freshman Whitney Murphy.  Whitney sung her rendition of “I believe I like pie” in the melody of “I believe I can fly” by R. Kelly.  The audience loved it!

Other competitions held included a PI-Memory contest, a Hula-Hoop contest and the finale was a Pie-Eating contest.  Sophomore, Rakiya Davis won first place, recalling 140 numbers of .  Freshman Joey Goodwin won 2nd place.  He recited 100 numbers without fail.  Rakiya also won the Hula-Hoop contest.  Initially there were 9 hula-hoop contestants. She and Denise Resto, a freshman, continued to hula-hoop during the Pie Eating contest.  Denise’s hula-hoop finally plunged to the floor after more than 22 minutes but Rakiya kept her rhythm and finally was declared the first place winner!

The tables were set with 24 variety of pies; Apple with whipped cream topping, Lemon-Meringue and Boston Crème. As the 23 students and Mr. Henry raced to stand behind their favorite pie the crowd’s energy grew immensely!  The audience was astonished to watch them actually eat an entire 1lb 4oz pie with a circumference of (8in)  with their hands behind their backs in only a few moments.  Freshman, Marquis Vargas raised his head first after he demolished his pie.  Junior, Malcolm Pina came up 2nd.  “It was a fun!” Malcolm said.

While the competitions were being held some of the students that only wanted to watch took PI-Day souvenir pictures.  They took advantage of the opportunity to place their face inside a beautiful pie display drawn by freshman, Ram Gigantone.  Overall the students left school hyped and happy.  The celebration was a huge success!

Prior to Day, Mrs. Williams and Mr. Henry lead Eli Whitney’s Math League students in another fundraiser.  They placed orders for Day t-shirts.  75% of the faculty in the building supported this effort!  The faculty along with some of the math league students all wore their t-shirts to support Day.

Also prior to Day, daily after CAPT testing sophomores lead by Mr. Henry and Mr. Cooper placed hundreds of digits from the infinite number in the classroom windows along the front curbside of the building as well as along the first and second floor hallways to encourage students to practice.  At Eli, “We believe we like P – I,  3. 14 15 92 65…” 

The entire celebration/fundraiser was planned for various reasons: 1- to generate excitement and additional school spirit, 2-to get students to see that even though math is everywhere, “MATH IS COOL!”, and 3- to benefit Eli Whitney’s math league’s participation in the upcoming Technical School System’s Math League Competition in May.