By Lexus Yamashiro | Staff Writer

Haunani Inouye, a third-year student attending KCC, spent her afternoon on March 14 at the ʻIlima Courtyard to celebrate Pi Day while learning more about KCC’s STEM program. The third-year student was enjoying herself while playing “Pi shoes” (a game of horseshoes with Pi-shaped horseshoes) during KCC’s first annual Pi Day Event that was held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

During her time spent at the event, Inouye, who is majoring in Natural Sciences, said that the idea of celebrating Pi Day while connecting KCC’s STEM program with it is what made the event most interesting and encouraging for science majors such as herself.

“Any event that STEM does always boosts up my interest to be in STEM. Like, I’ll lose interest throughout the year, but coming to the events helps me remember why I’m in STEM in the first place,” Inouye said.

The event was created with the collaboration between the Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), Math Club, and Ecology Club to spread the joy that mathematics and science can bring while also celebrating the birthday of the late-physicist, Albert Einstein.

ESW’s president Christopher Blake was present during the event to talk with students about Pi Day and encourage them to participate in the activities. The third-year student, who is majoring in Electrical Engineering, explained that the team effort that was put into creating the event had the goal of reaching out to those on campus as a way to express the fun side of math and science.

Mathematics professor Dennis Perusse dressed up as Albert Einstein as he posed for pictures with students, faculty, and staff throughout the event. (Photo by Lexus Yamashiro)

“We just wanted others to see that ‘Hey, STEM isn’t that scary’,” Blake said.

Several mathematics professors on campus participated in the event to inform students of different mathematical and scientific aspects while keeping it interesting. Professor Nadine Wolff had a math emporium table set up where students got to play fun activities such as guessing how many squares are on a piece of paper while learning about Fibonacci, the golden ratio, and how it can be found in nature.

A competitive game that tested students’ ability to recite the most digits for the irrational number pi was hosted by Professor Austin Anderson. KCC student Alden Fernandez was able to accurately recite 120 digits in the 100 math course level competition while student Sean Tadekawa recited 110 digits in the 200 math course level competition. Fernandez received a trophy that was 3D printed by engineering students.

Throughout the day, students who attended got to socialize over free pizza that was provided by the STEM program, while getting pictures with Professor Dennis Perusse who was dressed as Albert Einstein.

The STEM program hopes that future Pi Day events will feature all of the STEM-related clubs on campus as a chance to showcase what they have to offer and to enhance the celebration of Pi Day. The next Pi Day event will be held on March 14, 2019.