Our annual celebration of the importance of Pi and Maths in general was another thumping success.  The School Library/Resource Centre served over 120 Maths fans very comfortably, especially because (nearly) everyone had a seat this year, bringing an added layer of luxury to the proceedings. 

Ms J Connolly was delighted and excited to organise and present the event again and she was helped enthusiastically by the following pupils:

Gerard McAllister, 9T

Áine Wills, 10C

Medb Wills, 10M

Keela McConville, 10J

Noah Shively-Blinn, 10J

Conall Hartley, 11S

Nandhu Ponsailapathy, 11F

Anna Linden, 11G

Katie Martin, 11C

These pupils are a credit to Aquinas and have given their free time generously over the two month period that it takes each year to prepare for and publicise Pi Day.  Thank you, Pi Posse 2013! 

Through ticket sales, ballots and general shenanigans, the Pi Day team managed to raise ₤239.27 for Trócaire.  Thank you, generous school community!

Michael Morgan, 10S, and his mum were their usual kind selves and made another fantastic Pi Day Chocolate Hamper.  We sold more ballots for their gorgeous Easter creation than we have ever done in any previous raffle.  Many thanks to them both!

JJ O Reilly, the (physically-elsewhere-but-spiritually-present) Ryan McClory and Dominic Harkin from Year 13 introduced Pi Day 2013 with some self-penned beatnik-inspired Maths poetry.  This got us all in the mood for a mellow but meaningful afternoon, man.

As always, the Pi Memorisation Challenge was an edge-of-seat experience.  Returning champion and all-round legend Róisín Guthrie stunned the audience when she regained her tiara and broke her own school record with an amazing 663 decimal places.  Ms Connolly would like to thank Róisín for her unwavering loyalty to Pi Day throughout her seven years in Aquinas.  She has been a genuinely inspirational Maths student and an all-round great girl.  When The Guth goes off to University to study Maths and Physics in Q.U.B in September, she will be greatly missed and all of us Maths nerds hope that she keeps in touch.  Well done, RG! 

 

Matthew Nixon from Year 13 juggled (yes, actually juggled) through 351 decimal places and was a very impressive and gracious runner-up.  A special nod must go also to third-place winner Conall Hartley from 11S, who was so fast in rattling through his 176 decimal places that we had to stop him because we could not keep up!  Rebecca Cullen from 8M was the best Year 8 student, with a very promising 88 decimal places.  Rebecca is DEFINITELY one-to-watch in future Maths events.

The Mental Maths Challenge yet again proved very popular and extremely competitive.  Twenty-six pupils from Years 8 to 14 took part and after several arduous rounds, three pupils (all girls!) were left in the final heat to battle it out between increasingly difficult problems and brainteasers covering all the nooks and crannies of Mathematics.  Eventually the winners were announced as follows:

Champion:    Nandhu Ponsailapathy, 11F

Runner-up:   Rebecca Cullen, 8M

Third Place:  Kathryn Browne, 10M

Congratulations to everyone who took part.  Ms Connolly is already planning for Pi Day 2014 and she hopes to see you there!