Jan 23, 2024

While our American students were arriving on campus, our Chinese participants embarked on an exciting field trip to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The day began with a visit to the special exhibit "The Art of the Brick," featuring over 100 intricate Lego sculptures by artist Nathan Sawaya. Our students marveled at Lego renditions of famous artworks like "The Scream" and "Starry Night," as well as original creations including a 20-foot-long dinosaur skeleton. A highlight was the new "PERNiCiEM" section, showcasing endangered species through Lego sculptures paired with wildlife photography. After exploring the exhibit and enjoying some hands-on building in the 9,000-square-foot Lego play space, our group spent time discovering the museum's interactive science exhibits. They walked through a giant model of a human heart, tested their balance on the neural pathway nets, and explored various engaging displays. The trip concluded with a captivating show at the planetarium called "The Sky Tonight," where our budding mathematicians learned about current celestial events and constellations visible in the night sky. This field trip not only provided a fun start to our program but also demonstrated how mathematics and creativity intersect in art, engineering, and astronomy.

After returning to campus, we all gathered in the Brower Student Center for our opening evening dinner. One of our head counselors, Adam Saleh, started off the evening with the team roll call and some brief notes about the care your children will be given while with us. Next up was me, Adam Raichel, a co-director of Math League. I talked about the value of programs such as ours in “finding your tribe,” the high caliber of students attending our program, and the difficulty of our contests. Last up was John Hagen, our supervisor of counselors. John has worked all year recruiting counselors for our program and making sure that everything runs smoothly. John is always available to parents for any questions about rooms and counselors. And then it was dinner time!

After dinner, all our staff and participants walked over to the Decker Social Space for our evening activities. Our counselors have received training in leading improv games, which they taught to our participants. These games give our students a chance to get acquainted with one another through some fun interactions. For most of these games, the team members form a circle and do activities that emphasize learning one another’s names, collaborating, listening, and in some cases a little friendly competing. There was a lot of laughter - it’s a great way to release tensions and begin making friends. After that it was off to the dorms for the traditional fire drill and then to bed.

Tomorrow morning after breakfast our first contest round will be held in the Social Sciences building. We like to begin with the Team Round since this gives the students a chance to work together on some challenging questions.

After the team round we will have the first of the day’s three lectures. There will be one before lunch and two after. We have some dynamic presenters lined up, and I can honestly say that I am looking forward to them! Topics will include problem solving, Apollonian packings, and the use of math in building a safer world.

Tomorrow night will be the first night of our two-evening talent show. About 20 participants have offered to perform and entertain us. I will be emcee for this show as usual; part of that task includes my patented brand of groaner, you-have-to-think-about it jokes that are such a beloved tradition at our program. (Beloved by me - I can’t speak for the audience!) By the way, I do regularly host and perform at Mockingbird Improv in San Diego, so if you are ever in that area, be sure to stop by and say hi - I’ll arrange tickets for you to see one of our shows!