Thousands of schools across the country host Math-a-thon events throughout the year to help raise awareness for the St. Jude’s Research Hospital. The Math-a-thon at Manhattan High happened on December 6 and 7 and the actual contest nearly lasts around an hour and a half. This year 52 students in all Jancy Radke’s math classes at MHS participated in the Math-a-thon that was held in Radke’s classroom.

“All five of my math classes participated this year,” Radke said.

For other schools, the Math-a-thon event can have as many contestants as they want.

“The event has no requirements to how many people can participate, it’s for a good cause,” Radke said.

The Math-a-thon event allows students to participate in the Math-a-thon from K-12.

Although Radke is the only known teacher at Manhattan High to encourage students to participate in this year’s Math-a-thon, she has made a tremendous impact in helping the St. Jude’s Research Hospital raise awareness and students have been collecting money for the hospital as well.

“This year is the first year of hosting for Manhattan High and I am hoping to get more teachers involved in years to come,” Radke said.

There aren’t any scholarships that come into play for the students, but the overall goal for the Math-a-thon is to collect donations for St. Jude’s research and for students to get involved more with math. When it comes to preparation, students should know the curriculum in order to solve certain problems.

“This year I chose a level that would incorporate both Geometry and Algebra concepts as I was having both Intermediate Algebra students as well as Geometry students participate,” Radke said. “The teacher that is hosting the event gets to choose the level appropriate for the students participating.The problems are Algebra 1 and Geometry problems, so normal classroom curriculum helps them to prepare for this event.” In all seriousness the reason for this event is for St. Jude and that it’s also a creative way for students to get involved.

“I try to make the Math-a-thon a fun event for students to participate in,” Radke said. “For one day we take a break from the normal classroom routine. While students are working problems in their booklets I have holiday videos playing and snacks available for them to eat. The main goal is to raise awareness of what St. Jude’s is and what they do. The Math-a-thon is a fun way to bring it into the Math classroom.”

Overall the students that have participated in the Math-a-thon this year have helped make a difference to help with the St. Jude’s Research Hospital and have challenged themselves to step outside the box and compete in an academic event.