Happy π Day March 2024

Join us this summer at the Convention in Las Vegas! July 7 - 12, 2024

We cordially invite you to this year’s National Convention. Please read Richard

Rusczyk's letter on the impact the National Convention had on him when he was in

high school. If you have never been to a National Convention, this is surely going to be one to remember and a great convention to make your first. Mr. Rusczyk is going to

be the keynote speaker this year. It is sure to be fun and a great challenge for all. Hope

to see you all in Las Vegas in July!

Student Delegate President's Message

Hi! As we get closer to the national convention, I wanted to remind everyone that the student delegate officers are always available to answer any questions about the student experience in Mu Alpha Theta. We are hosting monthly zoom meetings to talk about MAO initiatives and answer questions live. We are also available through Instagram (@mualphatheta), email (jessebrodtman@gmail.com), and our discord community which is open to all members and sponsors (https://discord.gg/hvzFKvgXbh)!”

Thank you,

Jesse

P.S. Check next month for our Top Reasons to attend the Convention!

Scholarship review is underway - thank you to all who submitted applications and to our scholarship readers! Winners will be announced on April 1.

2024 graduations will be here before you know it. Have you ordered your Mu Alpha Theta cords, stoles, tassels, or medals for your graduating seniors? Please make those orders this month to avoid the rush in April and May!

We have an early bird special—$25 off each registration—for our National Convention this year if you complete the registration by April 24. Be sure to get your hotel and travel arrangements made before registering. And check out the national convention page of our website to see if you qualify for any of our convention grants. Please call the National Office if you encounter any hiccups in our portal.

Over 60 chapters entered our Math Minutes video contest this year. Those will be narrowed down to 8 finalists, and then sent out to all active chapters for voting on April 1. Find your favorites and vote by April 30!

Voting for new Governing Council members begins on March 11. Regions 1 and 2 will vote on new governors, and all regions will vote for a president-elect. Watch for that email and make your vote count!

Regional Sponsor of the Year Award

DEADLINE: March 15
sponsor award for significant contributions to MAT
$1,000 for sponsor

Attention All Sponsors

Elections

Each Mu Alpha Theta sponsor will receive a ballot electronically on March 11, 2024, for the upcoming elections and constitutional change. Each chapter gets one vote. The ballot will include the candidates listed below and will be due on April 19, 2024.

See the text of the amendment on the last page of this newsletter. Thank you!

President-Elect

Laura Moseley

Hooper Academy

Prattville, AL

Tom Norris

Thomas Jefferson HS

Auburn WA

Radleigh Santos

American Heritage Broward

Plantation, FL

Region 1 Governor

Shelby Aaberg

Scottsbluff HS

Scottsbluff, NE

Tom Clymer

National Testing & Assessment

Burien, WA

Region 2 Governor

Tammi Carlisle

Bolton HS

Alexandria, LA

Mark Woodward

Mount St. Mary HS

Oklahoma City, OK

The candidates' vitas will be included with the ballot so you can "meet" each candidate. Please take the time to read those. Your vote is very important to Mu Alpha Theta. If you are in Regions 3 or 4, you will not be voting for a governor this spring.

President Rob Snow's Message

Hello all,

Welcome to March and I hope you're all looking forward to a restful spring break before we begin the final push to the end of the year and the standardized exams.

Competition season is in full swing across the country at the local and state level. The National Convention registration page opened on March 1 for schools to begin signing up. Remember that all payments and forms need to be submitted by May 1 for the July 7-12 National Convention in Las Vegas.

We will have our next student meeting on Zoom on Sunday March 17 at 5 pm, Central time. Sponsors are also invited to attend

to be informed and ask questions about Mu Alpha Theta.

If anyone ever has any questions, please email me at robsnow23@yahoo.com. Thanks and have a great March!

Mu Alpha Theta Members Zoom Meeting

Time: March 17, 2024 06:00 PM Eastern Time

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81894524698

Meeting ID: 818 9452 4698

"Invite a Sponsor" Initiative

Have you always wanted to attend a convention to see what sponsors needed to do? Here's your chance!

Each of the four governors and the AMATYC representative will be able to invite one interested sponsor (without students) to attend the convention with significant support. They will shadow another sponsor and fully participate in the convention. If you are interested, please contact your governor directly to express your wish to attend the convention.

Convention Grant

Mu Alpha Theta will award a limited number of convention grants for first-time attendee chapters to attend the in-person National Convention. Members who attend must not have graduated before the convention. Each grant covers registration for a minimum of three members and a sponsor. The remaining funds may be used for additional student registration costs and/or other travel expenses.

There is more information online at mualphatheta.org, and the deadline is April 1, 2024.

Need-Based Convention Scholarship

The sponsor of each chapter attending the national convention may nominate up to two members for a need-based scholarship. More details at https://mualphatheta.org/need-based-national-convention-scholarship

Please send photos of your chapter activities to info@mualphatheta.org. We'd love to see your students in our newsletter!

Convention Deadline: Registration May 1 at 7 pm CT

Early Bird Deadline: April 24

Chalk Talk Online Round 1 Directions Las Vegas 2024

Mu: Math & Profitability (Such as, not limited to Entertainment & Gambling)

Alpha: Math and the Desert (Such as, not limited to Climate effects, water sources)

Theta: Math and Desserts (Such as, not limited to hotel industry and baking)

The talk is to be uploaded to YouTube as an UNLISTED video so that anyone with the link can view the video without issues. Their upload is a 7-minute CONSECUTIVE VIDEO WITH NO EDITS AT ALL. The students can do multiple practice runs with their talk if they’d like. Their upload is their final version. It is completely up to the student in how they present their work (document camera, use a whiteboard/chalkboard, etc.). The student needs to be comfortable with how they present their talk in whatever format they choose. They must, however, use a writing tool in the video to present their talk.
The video links for all of the school’s competitors must be emailed to Kim Woolfenden woolfmath@aol.com and Rob Snow robsnow23@yahoo.com by 8pm on June 8.
For schools who have 2 or all 3 divisions, please send all of the links in one email to both addresses.
The videos will be judged the week of June 10-16. Finalists will be emailed to all sponsors on Monday June 17. The finalists will do their talk live in Las Vegas. Chalk Talk finalists will be sequestered like we’ve done at previous conventions until their talk is complete.
If anyone has any questions about the Chalk Talk process, please email Rob Snow at robsnow23@yahoo.com.

PLEASE check out the Sponsors guide at MuAlphaTheta.org

You can only sign up for ONE of these per round per kid. Student may test higher, NOT lower.

MANY other tests in the Sponsors guide.

Keep Calm & Order Your Graduation Regalia*!

*Cords, Pins, Stoles, and/or Tassels

Mu Alpha Theta T-shirt Contest

Are you lucky enough to be in the path of the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse? If so, enjoy, but be careful. If not, maybe you can be lucky enough to win the $1000 using your creativity to design the next best Mu Alpha Theta T-shirt!

Mu Alpha Theta is holding its T-shirt contest again this year with the theme, “Mathematics, the Solar System and Beyond.” If your chapter’s design is chosen for the contest, your chapter will be awarded $1000 and the glory of being able to announce that the design is yours. Your chapter will also win five T-shirts of your design thanks to a generous donation.

The email submission window will be from March 14, 2024, to April 8, 2024. (Pi day until the Eclipse of 2024)

For details, visit https://mualphatheta.org/content/mat‐t‐shirt‐contest

For more information on the eclipse, visit https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/

Chapter T-shirts

Mu Alpha Theta loves chapter T-shirts. However, it must be clear to all that your T-shirt represents your chapter and not the National organization.

Therefore, we ask that you help preserve our copyright by seeking permission for your design. Send your design to info@mualphatheta.org.

1) The side of the shirt that shows the logo, MAT, and/or Mu Alpha Theta must include the school name or its initials.

2) Please include your chapter # in your email.

We do not critique your design; we just check that your chapter is a member and that you follow rule #1 above.

Be rational, celebrate π approximation day!

The Love Imaginary video

Starring the number 1, i, and the woman they both love. No numbers were injured in the filming of this winning video from several years ago.

Help Wanted

AMATYC Representative to MAT

AMATYC and Mu Alpha Theta are actively seeking an AMATYC member to serve as the AMATYC representative on the Mu Alpha Theta Governing Council. This is a great way to become a voice for two-year colleges on the Governing Council.

For more information, please contact Dana Wade at info@mualphatheta.org.

Registering for the 2024 Convention

Gather all the needed information.
Members recommend using Microsoft Edge .
Using your chapter number and pa$$word, sign into www.mualphatheta.org
Then Click on the blue button, "Conventions". Once there, choose "Join Convention."
Follow the Convention Instructions that are accessed by clicking the blue button on the upper right hand corner of the registration page.

The Impact of Sponsors &

the National Convention

Dear Math Team Coaches,

My most important teacher was Gwen Snoddy, my math team coach and Mu Alpha Theta sponsor. Despite the fact that I went to the Math Olympiad Program three times and attended two of the country's top universities, Ms. Snoddy’s contributions to my future were far greater than those of any of the professors or brilliant mathematicians l encountered at specialized programs and colleges.

Of course, I didn’t appreciate the depth of her contribution while I was in high school. Probably not even in college, though the opportunities she made available to me in extracurricular mathematics during high school caused college to be much easier for me than it was for many of my college classmates. One of the most important opportunities she provided was attending the Mu Alpha Theta National Convention four times as a student. There l was inspired not just by the interesting mathematics, but by encountering so many other students who enjoyed tackling hard problems. I didn’t realize at the time that this would be my future -- that my professional career would be full of such people in ways most of my high school classes were not. Simply put, the Conventions helped me realize that I wasn’t alone.

At the last Convention l attended as a student, I ended up on a state team with one of my ﬁercest Alabama rivals. We weren’t good friends prior to being teammates at Mu Alpha Theta, but four years later we would collaborate on the ﬁrst pair of Art of Problem Solving books. Now, our families travel together, we’ve co-founded a non-proﬁt to bring these extracurricular experiences to underserved communities, and the original AoPS books served as a launching pad for my current career, running the Art of Problem Solving company for the last 16 years.

Through AoPS, l have ﬁnally come to appreciate what Ms. Snoddy made possible for me. I’ve had the great fortune to work with tens of thousands of the most eager math students around the world. They have a lot in common with the student I once was, but one thing most of them don’t have is a Gwen Snoddy of their own. A small set of my students are so fortunate —- through them. We encountered dozens of inspiring teachers.

But not the thousands or tens of thousands that we so badly need to support the next generation of brilliant minds that make most of the scientific, mathematical, economic, and medical advances of the next generation. Many, if not most, top students are largely on their own if they want to go beyond the classroom.

I’m pretty sure I never thanked Ms. Snoddy enough for her contributions to my future. I’m not sure I could. So, instead, I’ll thank you for what you’re doing above and beyond the classroom. Too few people realize how much these students are capable of. What you’re doing for your students in your math clubs is rare, perhaps more rare than you realize. It’s also critical. For some of your students, it’s only these efforts that will allow them to reach their full potential.

Sincerely, Richard Rusczyk

Reprinted with Permission from the March 2019 Mu Alpha Theta Newsletter.

In Memory of Pamela Sue Arthur

Mrs. Arthur was a beloved advisor of Mu Alpha Theta at John Paul II High School in Texas.

Thank you to those who donated to Mu Alpha Theta in her memory, and our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family.

In Memory of John A. Dossey

Dr. Dossey served as President of Mu Alpha Theta in 1997 - 1999. He was a distinguished professor mathematics at Illinois State University.

Before serving as MAT President, he was president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics from 1986 to 1988.

Karen Kating

Hours: M-F

8:30 am—4:30 pm CT

Please remember that orders are processed the next business day after received and over 10 certificates and/or any merchandise are shipped by UPS ground and take 3-5 business days. Please remember Oklahoma does have bad weather that sometimes interferes with the shipping, but you will be notified if it does. Ten and fewer certificates go by snail mail, and we cannot guarantee any delivery dates.

Again, our system only releases cords to seniors so if you need to add seniors and order cords, you will need to place two orders, the same PO can be used for both orders. If both orders are placed the same day, they will be shipped together and be considered one of your two free shipments/school year. Please remember to order your graduation regalia early!

Help us welcome these new chapters and thank Karen Kating and members of the Governing Council for facilitating the process!

(1/26/24 to 2/29/24)

Registration for the 52nd In-Person Mu Alpha Theta National Convention is Open

Las Vegas, NV, July 7 - 12, 2024

For details, check the Sponsor Packet at https://mualphatheta.org/national-convention

Proposed Constitutional Amendment

That the Mu Alpha Theta Constitution and Bylaws be amended as shown below.

(4) Each Regional Governor shall:

a) Promote Mu Alpha Theta activity within their region.

b) Vote throughout the year on approval of new chapters in their region.

c) Attend all meetings of the Governing Council and report annually, at the winter and summer meetings, Mu Alpha Theta activities in their region during the past year.

d) Consider ideas and suggestions of sponsors and students.

e) Participate during the entire week of the annual national convention by

1. Meeting with the Student Delegate Assembly at the convention;

2. Communicating and promoting communication with regional sponsors throughout the year;

3. Facilitating the regional student delegate meeting at the Student Delegate Assembly;

4. Leading the informal breakfast sponsor meetings at the convention;

5. Attending all sponsor meetings; and

6. Completing convention duties as requested.

f) Serve on committees of the Governing Council.