Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Introducing "Rotary Community Heroes of Hope" - a podcast dedicated to showcasing the profound impact of Rotary in District 5330 and beyond. Join us as we explore the remarkable stories of rotary heroes and initiatives that are transforming communities and creating hope around the world.
Rotary Community Heroes of Hope
Making Math Exciting: The Legacy and Impact of Coachella Valley's Math Field Day
Ever wondered how math can be both fun and competitive? Join us on this episode of Rotary Heroes of Hope as we spotlight the Math Field Day initiative in the Coachella Valley! Hosted by Judy Zulfiqar and Jamie Zinn, we explore the rich history and evolution of this engaging event with Sue Stedding, past president of the Indio Rotary Club. From its humble beginnings in the late 1990s to a thriving comeback post-COVID, Math Field Day is more than just numbers; it’s about community, creativity, and collaboration.
Discover the rigorous preparation behind the scenes that molds young minds into math enthusiasts. Brigham shares his journey, highlighting the intense practice sessions with games like 3D tic-tac-toe and hex, while Clara reflects on the lifelong friendships and critical thinking skills she gained, which have been instrumental in her legal career. Sue Stedding and Kim Scogin from Desert Sands Unified School District illustrate how the Rotary Club’s unwavering support and coordination make this event a resounding success year after year.
Feel the inspiration through heartfelt testimonials from past participants and volunteers. Brigham, aspiring to join West Point, opens up about his passion for math and its pivotal role in his future career. Hear the touching story of a former participant’s life-changing encounter with a Caltech astrophysicist. The episode wraps up with a celebration of the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope program, encouraging listeners to support and engage with these transformative community projects, making a lasting impact on future generations.
Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast. I'm your host, judy Zolfakar, proudly serving as the current district governor for Rotary District 5330. Co-hosting with me is Jamie Zinn, our esteemed immediate past district governor. Heroes of Hope brings to light the remarkable stories of impact from Rotarians within our district. Our episodes shine a spotlight on transformative community projects taking root in our region and extend their reach to initiatives making waves on a global scale. Each story is a testament to the profound influence Rotarians exert on the lives of individuals and communities we are committed to serving. Join us in this inspiring journey. Dive deeper into the world of Rotary with us and witness firsthand the extraordinary ways in which Rotary touches lives and reshapes our world. Welcome to the Rotary Heroes of Hope podcast, where hope takes center stage and the heroes are the Rotarians among us, turning vision into action. How are you doing today, judy? I am doing great and I'm very interested in hearing about this particular episode of our podcast.
Speaker 2:Yes, we are going to be talking about Math Field Day out in the Coachella Valley area and I certainly hope they're not going to test us at the end of this and give us some quizzes here over the podcast.
Speaker 1:I don't do math in my head, but I am very excited about this because it sounds like they have figured out a way to make math fun.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and that's what we need to do make it fun, and we have several guests with us today and I think we're going to go ahead and start with Sue Stedding, who is from the Indio Rotary Club, and she is going to talk to us about what Math Field Days is, how it got started, and then we'll go from there, sue, welcome.
Speaker 3:Thank you to both of you. I am Sue Stedding. I am a past president of the Rotary Club of Indio and I have been involved with volunteering for Math Field Day since it began, which was in the late 1990s.
Speaker 1:Wow, it's been going on a long time.
Speaker 3:We celebrated 25 years of Math Field Day before COVID and then we were dark for three years and this past April's event was the second since COVID. So we're counting 27 years with a break. The idea came to us from a member of our club whose wife worked with Desert Sands Unified School District in their administrative office, john and Cheryl Benoit. And John said to us there's no math competition going on in the valley. If the kids here in the Coachella Valley want to compete in math in elementary school, middle school, high school, they need to drive into Riverside to do it. We need to do something different here. So we connected with all three school districts. We offer the competition to all three school districts here in the Coachella Valley, as well as private schools. We invite them to send teacher teams for sixth and seventh and eighth grade. Palm Springs Unified, la Quinta Middle School La Quinta excuse me Palm Springs Unified and Desert Sands Unified's middle school is six, seven and eight. Coachella Valley Unified their middle school is seven, eight, nine, unless they have a school that's six, seven and eight, or they will send sixth grade teams from their elementary school. So it's a little catch-all of interest with CV Unified Over the years, desert Sands Unified, and Kim will talk about their role have really become our partners.
Speaker 3:Indio Rotary, peas for a part of it. Desert Sands donates a whole lot of other part of their resources to carry this off. Since COVID we've had about 150 students competing. Prior to COVID we had more than that. So we're rebuilding.
Speaker 3:There are games and events which the school district is more familiar with. The cost this last year, this last time, is going to probably be about $7,000. We pay for our part of that. We pay for that $7,000 out of club funds and we get lots of grant support. We get local community support and we have volunteers who come in to work the day on our side, not counting everybody from the school districts who are coming in with the kids. Our volunteers are coming from Rotary Clubs more than just us, from women's clubs, from the Eastern Star. People really want to get out and help volunteer grading, serving as proctors in the classroom, serving the lunch, whatever needs to be done, just to hang out with middle schoolers and get a taste again of what it's like and how much fun it is to compete, even if it isn't math. So I'll stop there.
Speaker 1:And we'll let Kim. You can explain, I think, how this program is put together. Is that correct? First introduce yourself.
Speaker 4:Sure, so my name is Kim Scogin. I am the Middle School Math Project Facilitator for Desert Sands, so I work with math teachers and middle schools across our district. This is my first year taking this on. Tammy Carley Barrow has been in charge of this for many years and so it was big shoes to fill.
Speaker 4:But generally Desert Sands because it's in the middle of the two districts, so we host at one of our middle schools, at John Glenn, and it's a really fun day for the kids. They really enjoy it. We have the events, as Sue said, in the games, and the events are you know, they have construction derbies, so they build stuff. They have a team investigations where they work to solve problems, and then there's different games, so like Hex and 24, a couple of them, and when they finish in John Glenn has a covered basketball court they call the Birdcage, and in there there's different games that the the um. This year we had um desert rec district uh hosted it, and so there's a free throw contest. There's like an airplane. They make paper airplanes and throw them and have who can go the furthest. Like there's lots of little games, um so yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:So tell us how uh the the math part works into it if we're building paper airplanes, for example.
Speaker 4:That's more of a physics piece, so it's not just like straight math computations. It's more of a STEM day. So they're focusing on how the technology and the engineering pieces come in the construction derby. Obviously they're not sitting there doing computations. We want it to be a fun day for them, so we try to keep it light in that sense. So they have to engineer the right kind of plane to make it go the furthest distance, so they might have certain drag on the plane or certain aerodynamics, things like that.
Speaker 1:Math is in everything, and that's a great way to show it right. We're so lucky also to have here today, uh, a student that was participated in the most recent competition, as well as someone that competed in the competition. Clara, how many years ago we'll have you introduce yourself probably quite a few.
Speaker 5:Um, I'm 36 now, so I I would guess I competed when I was in sixth and seventh grade. So yeah, 20 plus years ago at this point.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, we're going to go ahead and have Bingham introduce himself and his teacher along with him, lauren, if you two can introduce yourselves, and we're going to talk about the student experience both now and in the past.
Speaker 6:All right, Hi, I'm Lauren Kilter. I am actually a teacher at John Glenn Middle School and I am the Math Field Day coach since like 2018. And I have one of my students and he was also on the team this year Brigham yeah.
Speaker 7:I'm Brigham and I'm a student at John Glenn and I participated in the my field day this year so, brigham, what did you participate in which part of the competition? I participated in the game. Hex, I found it my favorite and I actually won congratulations on that.
Speaker 2:Tell us about what Hex is.
Speaker 7:So Hex is a game I think it's 11 by 11 grid, kind of like Honeycomb it looks like, and you have to get from one side to the other in a straight line, but it cannot be broken. Um, so we're I'm gonna, I'm gonna stop you for just one games.
Speaker 1:You have to win two of them. I'm gonna stop you guys for just one second. I apologize. We're having um interrupted audio on you. Maybe if we have you close out your video we can get better audio. Um, and then I'm gonna have bring them. Have you explain that Hex game one more time.
Speaker 7:So Hex is a 11 by 11 grid and you try to get from one side to the other side in a line that cannot be broken up and you play three games against your opponent and you have to win two of them to win and move on.
Speaker 1:Wow, that sounds pretty intense. And so, Lauren, how long does it? Do you train the team? How many people are on the team and what are you training them to do?
Speaker 6:So we, if we have a full team, it would be 10 sixth graders, 10 seventh graders and 10 eighth graders. That'd be 30, 30 kids total. This this year we had, I think we had 26. So we had almost a full team. For John Glenn this year, we start practices usually around January and they were after school, so they would just come and they would practice against each other. So I encourage people to start new every year. In fact, brigham, this was his first year he's a seventh grader, but anyone can learn the games and they pretty much all beat me by the end of it. They learn strategies that I don't even know and they teach each other, and so it's fun, it's a fun, it's fun Even all the practices after school, right, brigham? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:What are your, your friends feel about this? Do they get excited about it? Is there a lot of talk around your school about, hey, let's participate, and you know which team is going to win against another school?
Speaker 7:um, yeah, I definitely my friends really liked it. I have one friend named bryce. He joined it with me. It was really fun, um, especially that I had friends in the class. He won um 70 because he had like the mathematician of like the year thing.
Speaker 2:Wow, oh, that's a good price. Okay, 70 bucks is going to buy a lot of video games right there, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I'm going to move to Clara. Clara, if you can introduce yourself, tell us what you're doing today, what your experience was as a student and also how you're participating in the math field day today.
Speaker 5:Sure, my name is Claire Mozingo. I'm an appellate attorney over at the Court of Appeal, so I work assisting justices in evaluating petitions that we get and deciding whether or not we're going to move forward with them. And I grew up out here in the desert. I went to La Quinta Middle School where I participated in Math Field Day. When I was there, hearing Sue give the history, I realized I may have been one of the first couple of classes of Math Field Day.
Speaker 5:My favorite name was Five in a Row. I just love it and I still remember it and was fond of it. And actually recently when I went to participate as a volunteer, as an assistant proctor, I specifically asked to go to that room because I kind of just wanted to reminisce from my days competing. And so I was able to act as an assistant proctor this year and I really enjoyed that and just seeing the competitiveness of the kids and just the interest I mean it's a Saturday morning and you know there's tons of kids everywhere doing something productive and good and enjoyable and they really seem to be enjoying themselves and so I really enjoyed volunteering for the event.
Speaker 2:Plus, you could probably give them a few hints on how to be effective in the results of that right.
Speaker 5:You know, I think I've still got some strategies similar to tic-tac-toe, so I feel like I've kept that up over the years. But they certainly didn't need my help. You could tell they were very well practiced and competitive, but kept a really friendly spirit about it too.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Can we talk about that? The practicing that I'd like to hear about that. How about you? Yeah, absolutely so. Tell us a little bit about how you go about practicing for these things. I know probably each school does it differently, but, brigham, maybe you can tell us how you go about practicing.
Speaker 7:Um, Brigham, maybe you can tell us how you go about practicing Um. So after school on Mondays and Wednesdays we um start at like three 30 and we go until four 15, practicing our games like five in a row 3d, tic-tac-toe, hex, um, and you just play with your buddy or, uh, you know somebody else who's doing that um for the competition, and it's really fun and you get to just kind of be with your friends and play some games. It's really fun.
Speaker 2:Do you ever, throughout the year before the actual competition happens, do you ever do some quote, you know mock competitions, maybe against some students from other schools or even from different folks other than the ones you practice with on a weekly basis?
Speaker 7:No, we just keep it with our school and our friends.
Speaker 1:Ah, okay, awesome. So, clara, now looking back over the years, how do you think, in addition to just increasing and improving your math skills, how do you think being a part of the Math Field Day affected you in your journey going forward through school and in the career that you are in now?
Speaker 5:I think it's just the people that you're spending time with. You know, I think, that all of my friends were involved in those kind of activities. I also did you know all of my friends were involved in those kinds of activities. I also did you know history day and things of that nature. And so I think, establishing those friendships you know, I still have the same best friends since I was seven and we continue to be friends today and so just that, that friendship, engaging in those kinds of productive activities together, those are just lifelong friends, lifelong skills. I think that continue on as an adult.
Speaker 2:Do you think that it gave you an opportunity to develop more critical thinking skills by participating in this?
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, I think any kind of activity like that does and I think, as Kim indicated, just making those things fun. You know I don't practice math on a regular basis as an attorney, but I think those just working at something, following through with something, learning something, engaging in competition, all of those kind of more global skills, help with everything that you face as an adult.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is definitely true. I think, all the way around it just helps our students become more rounded in their overall journey towards whatever, wherever they're going right.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, you know, sue, I was going to ask you, so you know. Obviously the club is supporting and participating in this. Give us an idea about the club members, the excitement that they show, what they really enjoy about doing this and their involvement.
Speaker 3:The club considers it a significant event of the year. It is an all-hands-on-deck moment. There are lots of pieces that come together during the course of the year, but on the day of everybody's running around doing a number of different things, folks having involved there the next generation my son, who is now 33, would come with me to help register and when he was a sixth grader, the John Glenn Middle School grabbed him and said come on, sam, we need you to play today, we need you to compete. Not all the team had shown up. He then continued to come back through college, through law school and, as recently as last year, to help with registration and grading and bracketing. This year I didn't impose upon him because he has a new baby at home.
Speaker 1:And the next generation comes.
Speaker 3:But he would come just because he so enjoyed the humor of our 80th-year-old our most aged and recently passed Roger Harris, who he just enjoyed his humor so much. So Roger and Sam would work together in registration and grading, supporting each other in different ways, and that was fun. We have other family members. Their high school kids are now serving as assistant proctors. They show up as volunteers. We get Interact involved as well. They are there volunteering. We have competed with Coachella or Stagecoach the last couple of years and these kids think they really need to get to Coachella. But we tell them they don't need to go until noon and they can come help with Math Field Day. I think that answers the question yeah, absolutely, Kim.
Speaker 1:From the school's perspective, how important is this program for your school and how integral is it that the Rotary Club is involved in supporting you?
Speaker 4:Well, the Rotary plays a huge part in it because they provide a lot of things that the kids probably wouldn't get if the district was fronting the bill. So they provide breakfast for them, they do lunch for them. They have a lot of things that the kids probably wouldn't get if the district was fronting the bill. So they provide breakfast for them, they do lunch for them. They have a lot of good prizes for them, like you heard the Brigham say, like they're giving out like actual money prizes, which is not something that I think would happen if just the district was funding it.
Speaker 4:Desert Sands ends up taking a bulk of the time and effort into it just because we're in the center, and so I work with the other project facilitators from Desert Sands or not from Desert Sands, sorry from Coachella Valley and from Palm Springs, and then they reach out to their coaches and then I kind of put them all together on one sheet so we just have one point of contact. So it makes it a little simpler and easier, but it's really something that I think the teachers and the kids look forward to every year. I helped coach the last couple of years and it was really fun and I had a good time and I actually enjoyed helping run it. It was a good time, so I'm looking forward to next year and hopefully we have even more students.
Speaker 1:Well, it sounds like this is something that's going to go on for a long time.
Speaker 7:Brigham, are you ready to come back after you go to college? Probably. It's really fun to be doing this stuff.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, and so what are your goals? I know this is a little young to be asking what do you want to do when you grow up, but have you thought about it? And is math included in some of the things that you're looking at to want to do as you go into high school and college?
Speaker 7:um well, I want to go to west point oh, there you go but, and I want to be a penetration tester, but I'm not sure if that includes math, but I really like math. I'm in compact math and I love math, so I joined Math Field Day.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm sure both Kim and Lauren will tell you that testing of anything includes math somewhere.
Speaker 2:Somewhere along the line there.
Speaker 1:yes, Well, thank you all for coming out today. Any final thoughts from our guests?
Speaker 3:I do have one story related to Math Field Day and it's tangential and heartwarming in my humble opinion. If you would like to hear that, we would love to hear it Last year.
Speaker 3:Rotary always provides a program for the kids to hear from an adult professional using math in their job. That program is every on that Saturday after lunch and before the awards start, while we're still figuring out who won in the back room. Figuring out who won in the back room. So last year was Dr John Mulcahy, whom you both know as the director of Carnegie Tech in Pasadena, also a Rotarian. He volunteered his time and his professional work to come out and talk about being an astrophysicist and all of that that goes with that. We had him lined up in the fall before 2023, and in January of last year the Desert Sun wrote an article about five graduating seniors from the local high schoolers who had achieved full rides to the school of their choice. And in reading that article I noticed that there was a La Quinta High School senior who had been accepted at Caltech, which is also in Pasadena full ride and the newspaper reported he always wanted to be an astrophysicist. Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:So I figured out how to make my way through La Quinta High School to invite him to come to Matfield Day in April of last year just to meet Dr John Mulcahy, if he wanted to talk to Dr John, who also is co-located in the community where he would be going to school. The school was very helpful in moving through the counselor to the student, but as we approached math field day I never heard whether this young student was going to show up. He never confirmed and he had an email from me describing where I would be, what I would be wearing, in case he did show up to meet Dr John Mulcahy. I was talking with the La Quinta High School on St Kim that day that was Math Field Day because I'm thinking, will I be able to recognize this high school kid? And she said, well, what's his name? Unusual name. She said, well, he competed for John Glenn Middle School in Math Field Day when he was there for John Glenn Middle School in.
Speaker 3:Math Field Day when he was there and he did actually show up, he came out of the audience as Dr John and I walked very, very slowly away from the podium to the door, hoping he would just pop up out of hundreds of people in the multipurpose room and he did, and I left the two of them talking about his future and what was available, and you know what a great connection.
Speaker 1:Another way to show.
Speaker 3:Rotary. One fun story related to map fielding. We could not do this without Desert Sands. I know Kim says well, it's just because we're in the middle of the valley. No, it's because they've made this commitment, They've made the school site available. They are on board with this 100%. If we were moving school district to school district, middle school to middle school geographically each year, Rotarians would quickly decide this wasn't worth the effort. We're in this because Desert Sands is in this. So, Kim, thank you, we're in this because Desert Sands is in this.
Speaker 2:So Kim, thank you. Thank you, Kim, On certainly behalf of the district as well. You know, Judy and I and all the Rotarians appreciate what you do to support these programs and, you know, to support the kids. They are our future.
Speaker 1:So thank you so much.
Speaker 4:Any final thoughts? Kim, yeah, of course I mean it's just fun. It's a fun day. When I was a teacher in the classroom I ran our ASB and our web program, so I love organizing things like that, so it's kind of my wheelhouse. So it's been fun and I really enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Good job. It sounds like you do an amazing job, Clara. Any thoughts for you now coming back and participating as a proctor? How does it feel?
Speaker 5:I would just encourage anyone that's interested to volunteer. It really was fun and you know it's five hours of your time or so on a Saturday and I found it to be a worthwhile way to spend Saturday morning. So I know I indicated to someone. You know there's a lot of people that might not go out and seek a volunteer opportunity but when asked a lot of people will say yes and I think once they get there and they see that they enjoyed themselves, we'll continue to give back to the community in that way.
Speaker 1:Awesome Lauren and Brigham.
Speaker 6:Lauren and Brigham, yeah. So again, I am appreciative of this event happening every year. I work really hard to get the kids involved and excited for it and I try to encourage them as best I can to show up, and I am so thankful when they do come back and participate.
Speaker 1:Sounds like they had an alarm.
Speaker 6:I'm really grateful that they come back and participate every year. And actually, the student that you were talking about previously that came back last year to talk to the astrophysicist I had him as a student. I got him on the math field day team. I remember him fondly and it was really nice for me to see him again too, and so I'm glad they come back and I'm really thankful for the event.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for the support that you're giving the kids and showing them how it can be fun.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I really liked the event. It was a really good experience. They got like breakfast, lunch, it was cool, fun activities in the birdcage.
Speaker 1:I did it with my sister and my friends Like it was just a really good experience altogether Well, Brigham, we're happy that you were able to enjoy it and we look forward to hearing more about your journey towards West Point. That's amazing. I hope you stay in touch with Rotary and take advantage of the support that Rotary provides in your school through scholarships and other support that we have. So, Sue, if someone wants to participate and volunteer, who and how would they get in touch with you to be able to do that?
Speaker 3:I coordinate the volunteer side of our responsibility, so they would coordinate through me my email and my phone number. I don't know if you want that here or it doesn't matter, but through me.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll have them connect with you then at the Rotary Club of Indio. That's what we'll do is tell them to connect with Sue at the Rotary Club of Indio. So thank you all for coming. It was a pleasure talking with you. I love this program. I think it's great and I hope we can spread it around our district and see it more throughout our district.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and if there's anything you need, you know where we are. We're here to help you and make this program an even greater success. So thank you so much everybody.
Speaker 1:And then be sure to check out district5330.org. There's a little button called podcast and that's where all of our podcasts are. This podcast will be up in the next couple of weeks and we hope you share it with all your friends. Thank you, thanks. So that wraps up this episode of Heroes of Hope. We are so happy that we have an audience out there listening. We want you to subscribe, share and tell your friends about the Rotary Community Heroes of Hope, because that's how we get the word out about the impact we're having in this world.