Submitted Story
Do you enjoy puzzles, logic, and patterns? We don’t mean doing repetitive problems over and over (although we love a good Tetris session), or problems that you have to do in a specific manner to receive a good grade (who wants to do something the same way every time?). We mean thinking creatively about challenging problems, and enjoying working with others who feel the same about a good contest. Sound like someone you know? Read on!
Northern Nevada Math, Inc. (NNVMath.org) is a 501(c)3 charitable organization focused on developing a community in which we recognize math as cool (and, really, to recognize “math” as a fun verb!). We encourage students to find – and help them retain – their joy of math. Our goal is to inspire people to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers.
NNVMath encourages students to solve problems in a way that make sense to them. We believe there is no “right” or “wrong” way to arrive at a solution. There may be quicker or more elegant ways, but we know that math is not a race. We’re not saying math is easy, but we want to remind everyone that a real challenge can be a really good time, and overcoming adversity is deeply satisfying in a way rote memorization never will be.
We do all of this by organizing and hosting fun, social, team-based math competitions (and practices!). This isn’t your typical classroom math. Our problems are provocative and demanding, and we continuously up our game in order to expose students to new math ideas and concepts. Competitions offer students the opportunity to work as a team in order to solve complex challenges in a formal setting.
If this sounds like a community you want to support and be part of, please sign up for our mailing list for announcements of upcoming events and competitions at nnvmath.org/#email , and join us for this year’s round of competitions! Registration begins Aug. 15, 2017 for our first meet on Sept. 16, 2017.
