5th grader breaks 2 year old record!

On March 12, 2020 (since Pi (π) day or March 14 – 3.14 falls on a Saturday) marked the 8^th consecutive year that Oak Hill Academy Math Teacher, Mrs. Rita Cotterell and her students shared in the school’s tradition of celebrating this special day for math at Oak Hill Academy and around the world.  From making Pi plates, creating a Pi chain and listening to what Pi sounds like, students not only learn where Pi came from but do their own exploration of this very famous irrational number.

This year was extra special because there were two firsts that occurred that Thursday afternoon.  For the first time a student from the Lower school participated in this traditionally upper school (grades 5-8) event. Kindergartner, Joshua Preis (Holmdel), wowed a packed room by reciting 72 digits of Pi!!  To add to the excitement, 5^th grader Dimitrios Giannakopoulos (Colts Neck), broke the 2 year-old record set by 2018 graduate, Justin Weber, ( Oak Hill’s Got π ) who set new records for three consecutive years before he graduated.

In looking back, Mrs. Cotterell’s brainchild all began in 2012 with Oak Hill Alum, Michael Zhang (’16) reciting about 125 digits of Pi and truly amazing everyone with his performance.  But that was only the tip of the iceberg as he passed his torch to another alum, Mason Garber (’17) the following year. It has grown each year from there when we now have a record of 866 and a kindergartner joining in the fun!