The annual Sonia Kovalevsky Mathematics Day for Girls (SK Day) was held Saturday, March 20, its first virtual production. In its ninth year, the event attracted 52 mathematically interested girls in grades 5 to 8. The students attended online sessions on cryptography, graph theory and coding (grades 5 and 6) and geometry, infinity and permutations (grades 7 and 8) as well as hands on activities on mathematics and art, Jeopardy, and active mathematical games.
"I loved that, even though we were virtual, we were still able to connect by learning and doing math together," said one young participant.
SK Day is organized by the Department of Mathematics and led my faculty members Maria Lorenz and Irina Mitrea. Additional faculty include Vasily Dolgushev and Kelli Jones. CST students also play a strong part in organizing SK Day including graduate students Brandi Henry, Rose Kaplan-Kelly, Irem Altiner, Delaney Aydel, Katherine Burke, Nour Khoudari, Khanh Le, Leah Leiner, Zhi Li, Rob Oakley and Rebekah Palmer, and undergraduate students Anna Minasyan and Rebecca Zalkin.
The event also included local high school teachers Cathy Michini and Rachel Odoroff and faculty and students from Villanova University.
"All the organizers of the event did an amazing job pulling it all together and ensuring a smooth and mathematically exciting virtual experience for all," says Lorenz, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Math Department.