August 27 Day 902: Spreading Math Joy

#TacomaMath participated in the 18th Annual Back To School Bash hosted by Pastor Kevin Rogers and the City of Faith Christian Center. It was amazing! My son Anson and I arrived an hour early at 9 am and families were already lining up to participate. Free backpacks, school supplies, haircuts, immunization clinics, and sports physicalsContinue reading “August 27 Day 902: Spreading Math Joy”

April 24 Day 777: Lesson from Nature

You know what they say, “all work and no fun,…” Sometimes I focus too much on what I have yet to finish that I forget to take time to play. My morning motivation to see the sunrise was to think about a new topic for a #TacomaMath video. I got some fun photos that willContinue reading “April 24 Day 777: Lesson from Nature”

November 18 Day 620: #TacomaMath’s COVID Transformations

I love participating in #TacomaMath, a workgroup of the STEAM Learning Network of GraduateTacoma! We started on a project before the pandemic and have been revising our work together ever since. Our goal remains the same: To invite the Tacoma community, especially girls, students of color, and those impacted by poverty, to engage in positiveContinue reading “November 18 Day 620: #TacomaMath’s COVID Transformations”

August 17 Day 527: A Picture and a Word

I just participated in an inspiring panel called “My Journey in STEM.” The target audience was young women who had performed well in the American Mathematics Competitions. The other panelists were MAA colleagues April Ström, Hortensia Soto, and Emille Davie Lawrence. We each shared a picture that represented our mathematical journey and a word thatContinue reading “August 17 Day 527: A Picture and a Word”

July 14 Day 493: Always Learning

I have been editing videos for the #TacomaMath workgroup of the STEAM Learning Network of Graduate Tacoma for 5 months. We released the first video on February 5, 2021 and with few exceptions, created a Math Around Town recording every week since. I’ve learned a lot over these five months. I seem to learn somethingContinue reading “July 14 Day 493: Always Learning”

April 21 Day 409: An Eleven Hour Whirlwind

It’s crunch time. My youngest needs to make his college decision. But because of the pandemic, the only college visits he had were three years ago when he was dragged along on his brother’s tour. I promised before he made his final choice, we would visit the campuses he was considering. I can neither confirmContinue reading “April 21 Day 409: An Eleven Hour Whirlwind”

February 25 Day 354: Crowdsourcing Topics for Short Math Videos

The #TacomaMath work group of the STEAM Learning Network is working to positively change the mathematical culture in my city of Tacoma. We’ve employed various strategies throughout the pandemic, see July 25 Day 139: #TacomaMath. Starting this month, our workgroup has been creating Math Around Town recordings—one per week—suitable for school age children. No longer thanContinue reading “February 25 Day 354: Crowdsourcing Topics for Short Math Videos”

February 5 Day 334: New Adventures in #TacomaMath

#TacomaMath, the math work group of Graduate Tacoma‘s Steam Learning Network, is on a mission to promote mathematics in our community. Our goal? To positively change the culture of mathematics throughout Tacoma. The pandemic threw a wrench into our plans. We swerved and had some successes with sidewalk chalk puzzlers and open ended scavenger questsContinue reading “February 5 Day 334: New Adventures in #TacomaMath”

July 25 Day 139: #TacomaMath

Two months ago, in May 24 Day 77: Shine Your Light, the second bullet point on my big-dreaming summer to-do list stated “Support local Tacoma Math Walks #TacomaMath through responsible socially-distant math walks. The pandemic knocked the feet out from under this project in March. Its time to pivot, re-engage community partners, and move the dialContinue reading “July 25 Day 139: #TacomaMath”