Math Clubs Stay Connected
Math Club
By Club President Laura Bialozynski
When everything went virtual about a year ago, Math Club hit a few bumps in the road as we tried to navigate the new environment. Much of what we did before was centered around spending time with each other in Building 38 and eating pizza. Now, being on Zoom, we are slowly figuring out how to adapt and work with what our club members need.
Before this academic year began, we worked to reach out to all incoming math majors to help give them a solid connection coming into a fully virtual college experience. We connected with quite a few first-year and transfer math majors this way, and we also kept in contact with our existing members.
Not only have we kept to our every-other-Thursday meeting schedule to hopefully give our members a routine and a bit of structure in a fully virtual environment, but our event coordinator has been putting in extra work to craft additional social events for our members. We're happy that we've found a balance that is beneficial for a large majority of our members. We want to offer enough social events to allow our members the chance to stay connected, but we are very aware of the Zoom-fatigue many of us are facing right now.
More than anything, we are looking forward to being back in person for our meetings, where we can be in Building 38 instead of having it as our Zoom backgrounds and sharing pizzas instead of having to bring our own.
Association for Women in Mathematics
By Club President Sidra Knox
In this strange virtual world, it feels harder than ever to find support and genuine connection among peers, friends and students. The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) club has pushed through these barriers to open our hearts and our arms to anyone with a passion for math.
Over this past year, we have established a hopeful and inclusive environment based on respect for others and a willingness to learn and grow. From virtual games to arts and crafts, we have welcomed students to join us bi-weekly to take time away from their busy schedules and connect with people who share similar interests. Through our efforts, students are able to form study groups and answer any questions that underclassmen have regarding registration and overall curriculum.
We have also had breakthrough events, such as our Q&A with Dr. Elsa Medina, which had a profound effect on our students and sparked hope for many looking to pursue a career in math education. In the future, we hope to connect with other clubs to expand and grow our message of inclusivity and diversity to the overall Cal Poly student population, and to offer options and opportunities to our club members in pursuit of their career after graduation.
We are so grateful to be able to connect with our members bi-weekly, as most math-related majors believe it is more challenging to learn and understand concepts virtually. Although we can no longer bribe people with pizza, we always have a great turnout for meetings and events, which has even allowed for some fun competition!
For example, we had an exciting costume contest for the month of Halloween where one lucky winner won a prize for her dragon fruit costume, and we even played several rounds of Among Us in multiple breakout rooms. As always, we want our students to feel motivated to work, which we often encourage with Zoom study rooms in which everyone studies together and feels supported in their efforts.
We also provide a safe space for students to share their ideas, feelings and needs through Q&A’s and bonding events. AWM creates a wholesome environment for students to escape from the mundane nature and isolation of online learning and enjoy themselves for a short hour of information, excitement and fun. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with other clubs and connecting more with our current members. From our AWM board, we would like to thank our awesome members, our incredible advisor Joyce Lin, and our past speakers, all of whom have helped grow and support our club in these strange, online times. It may have been a difficult year, but we’re getting through it together.
Future Math Educators
By Club President River Stambaugh
The Future Math Educators have faced the challenge of staying connected since our organization first started in the winter of 2020. In fact, we only had one in-person meeting before the pandemic, and it was a vote as to who club officers would be. This challenge of running a club entirely virtually has presented some unique opportunities, and we have had to adapt to the situation to keep members involved.
Currently, we have both a steadily growing email list and a GroupMe chat where club members can get to know each other or ask relevant questions about math education at Cal Poly. We also use our email chain as a way to share tutoring opportunities and help our members maintain a connection to the San Luis Obispo community. One of our goals as an organization has been to be low-commitment, so we have yet to have our first meeting this quarter. But plans are in the works to have it soon!
Kappa Mu Epsilon
By Club President Emily Manning
Winter quarter of the 2019-20 school year, Nan Relan and Emily Manning brought Kappa Mu Epsilon (the National Mathematics Honors Society) back to life at Cal Poly. After recruiting members, we began to plan the initiation ceremony.
This came to an abrupt stop as COVID-19 turned all our lives upside down. As a result, Kappa Mu Epsilon has not yet had a single in-person event. However, Nan and I would not let that stop us from creating a bond with the members of Kappa Mu Epsilon. Every Sunday night from 6-7 p.m., we host an optional Zoom meeting where we play online games (such as Skribbl.io, Code Names, Among Us, etc.) and reflect on our week together.
Though our Zoom group has remained quite small as the meetings are optional, I have really enjoyed seeing all the familiar faces each week and creating connections that wouldn't have formed otherwise. Although these times have remained difficult for everyone, I believe that Kappa Mu Epsilon has provided a safe and enjoyable space for fellow math lovers to connect and stay social as much as we can, given the circumstances.
