The Manhattan High School Math Club meeting appears to be a social gathering with students talking openly and sometimes animatedly with one another.  However, that is not all that happens at the weekly Math Club meeting.  The President of the club gives a presentation about how math is connected to real world experiences.  For example, on Oct. 25th, Syoma Zharkov gave a presentation on the involvement of math in artificial intelligence.  These topics tend to be topics that are not covered in the typical math class.  Towards the end of the meeting time the club will play a game of some kind. These games can be math related or not.

Zharkov would share with anyone that math club helps people to learn about how math is used in the real world. 

“I am really passionate about new stuff…The lectures are always about random topics, but it may be useful,” sophomore Nutsa Samushia said.

Sophomore Rowan Jeanette-Bear agrees that he likes the way they structure Math Club.  He specifically stated that he enjoyed learning about math in neural networks.  Topics are based on student interests because students give the presentations.  Sponsor Ted Dawdy explains that he does not give any of the Math Club presentations.

Another exciting aspect of Math Club is the competitions they take part in.  Zharkov points out that winning a math competition is a great way to gain positive attention when applying for college.

Math Club also facilitates opportunities for service learning hours with the KSU Math Circle.  The Math Circle is a bi-monthly math enrichment club for elementary students in the area.  This is a great opportunity for Manhattan High students to help younger children with learning math.  In the future, the club hopes to have a charity project as well.

Math Club members enthusiastically expressed interest in having more students join their club.  If you are interested in checking it out, watch the hallways for more information.

“We have a bunch of QR codes all over the place… also if you approach anyone with a math club hoodie they can add you into the group me,” Zharkov said.

Even if math is not your main interest, you can still have fun.  Math Club also has a fun tradition of ending their meetings with a game of Fish. If you don’t know how to play fish, don’t worry, they will teach you.