JD Disturco, News Editor
@JDDcourant
Graphic by Devin Boulanger
Every year around the holiday season, the math department puts on a competition to see who can create the best math music video. This year was the 16th annual competition, where all students who participated had to submit their entries on their math classes’ schoology page by Monday, December 16 at 3 pm in order to count for the judging.
The tradition started in 2008 with math teacher Jennifer Lee. “I originally started the tradition when I used the song ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ to help my Algebra 2 class better understand the quadratic formula,” said Ms. Lee. “After that, I saw the ability to connect math and music, and figured it would be fun to spread around the school.”
The math department was overwhelmed with the amount of submissions from this year. “This year we had 112 submissions, and we’re currently reviewing them all,” said Ms. Lee.
Chair of the Math Department, Rebecca Pavia, explained her criteria. “What I look for in a submission are that the songs are in tune, the lyrics are well written, the video is shot well and the mathematical topic is correct,” said Ms. Pavia.
Each member of the math department is assigned a fraction of the videos to review. “When reviewing, we’ll highlight the ones that stood out to us, and then collectively we’ll figure out what the top five should be,” said Ms. Pavia.
After the entries are reviewed, the top five are selected to be voted on by the student body. Math teachers display the top five videos to their classes, where they ultimately vote to unveil the winner.
The top three finishers receive gift cards to local establishments, and the fourth and fifth-place finishers get five extra credit points on an assessment excluding the midterm or final exams.
There were restrictions to each submission. “Each video can be made up of seven people, has to be at least two minutes, and must revolve around a mathematical topic you are currently studying in your class,” said Ms. Pavia. “However, your group members do not need to be in the same math class as you.”
Alongside this, every submission received three extra credit points. However, this was not the reason for all submissions.
Junior, Michael Telesco, whose group won last year’s competition, didn’t enter just for the extra credit. “I did it because a couple of my friends wanted to, and it was an opportunity to try something new and fun,” said Michael.
Michael took inspiration from Trigonomic functions, and the song “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals to create his video, ‘Trig Waves.’ “My group and I used trig functions because it’s simple and relatively easy to write about,” said Michael. “We had a few ideas before, but we landed on Heat waves because it’s catchy, and most people know it.”
This annual tradition exhibits teamwork and collaboration between peers. “Ever since we created our music video, we’ve formed together to make more films,” said Michael. “We ended up making more videos and winning some awards from them.
Additionally, this tradition also strengthens the bonds between the teachers at the school. “The math department spends a lot of time together, and the music videos are always a great and fun thing to focus on,” said Ms. Pavia.
