Math Day, a new tradition started by math teacher Jeffrey Olson, is a field trip where a collect group of students visit a college and participate in multiple math events. At the beginning of the school year Olson took students to Colorado State University. This past week they traveled downtown to Metro State University where they were a part of a unique experience.

“I previously went to the CSU math day and really enjoyed the experience. I wanted to meet new people and advance my math skills in a unique way,” sophomore Ashley Butler said.

The day trip included a ride on the light rail, breakfast, and lunch on the 16th street mall on top of the math events. The math portion of the day began with an engineering challenge where students had to design bridges using only skewers, straws, rubber bands and yarn. The bridge had to fit a cube underneath while still being able to support a water bottle.

“My favorite part was the engineering round. Although it was difficult, my team and I were able to put together a bridge that qualified and earned points,” Casey Zhong, senior, said. “ It was fun because we got to be creative and build our own bridge.”

After successful reviews from the judges, teams then moved onto the geometry portion. Each group had 21 questions and an hour to solve as many problems as possible. Following the Geometry session, students had a lunch break where they explored 16th Street Mall and ate lunch. After lunch, the day ended with an Algebra and Analysis session as well as an awards ceremony.

Because of the extreme success at Math Day, Olson hopes to continue taking students for years to come.

“The students worked hard through the three different phases of the competition and I had an opportunity to chat with and learn from all of the other math teachers in attendance. [I’m] already looking forward to next year,” Olson said.