Thursday, Dec. 03, 2009

Midway students attend UCM’s Kovalevsky Math Day

Students and an educator from Midway High School attended the University of Central Missouri Sonia Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Juniors Kaitlynn Casaert, Kaitlyn French and Victoria Bynum, accompanied by instructor Brett Burchett, attended the day of workshops designed to raise awareness of and interest in careers in mathematics.

The event provided mathematics enrichment activities, a career panel discussion and a problem solving competition to the 43 female attendees.

“In recent years, girls have caught up with boys in the rate at which they take mathematics classes in high school, but females still fall behind males in the upper echelons of the field,” said Rhonda McKee, UCM professor of mathematics. “Sonia Kovalevsky Day is our effort to change some of those social and cultural forces. We want to send the message that girls do math!”

UCM’s Sonia Kovalevsky Day is an annual event planned in honor of the Russian mathematician who opened the door for women in the field of mathematics. Support for the even was provided by the UCM Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, the Missouri Mathematics Leadership Academy and private donations through the UCM Foundation.