BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The first in-person K-12 statewide math fair kicked off since 2019.
Students from all over the Green Mountain State gathered at the University of Vermont to express their passion for math by presenting projects they spent several weeks working on.
“I kind of just went through a learning curve,” 6th grader Lewis Elliott said.
For his project, Elliott combined his love for math with another passion.
“I chose coding because I’ve always been interested in it and I’ve even created a club in my school about it,” he said.
He’s just 12 years old and says he taught himself about coding when he was even younger.
“I was really interested in technology, and I kind of wanted to learn more about it so I started teaching myself coding. I didn’t really have a teacher so I kind of needed to wing it,” Elliot said.
Educating himself with YouTube videos and other websites…Elliot says it’s a rewarding feeling to see all of his hard work pay off.
“It makes me feel really good and that I’m getting somewhere with my love of coding,” he said.
Judges chose winners from different categories based on a certain criteria.
Students like Rhys Taylor mixed their love for music with math.
“The reason why I wanted to do this project was because I’ve been playing since I was six years old,” he said.
Taylor won a silver medal for the k through 6 category.
“I’d say it’s definitely rewarding because I’ve been working at this for a long time and just to hear everybody say it’s really a cool project and the judges liked it. It’s really nice to know it all turned out okay,” he said.
At the Vermont statewide math fair there were 48 students and 32 projects. A math teacher that I spoke with says it was so exciting to see how passionate her students here.
“Well, my favorite part is actually the enthusiasm and just going around and looking at other boards and listening to the students talk about how passionate they are about math and about what they’ve learned through this experience,” Orla Dundas of Barstow Memorial High School said.
As for Lewis Elliott — he says participating in the statewide math fair is a day he will never forget.
“I feel like my favorite part was actually just like explaining it to the judges and just seeing my work finally being presented,” he said.