Sonya Kovalevsky Day returns to The W
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Mississippi University for Women will once again celebrate Sonya Kovalevsky, a pioneer for women in the field of mathematics, with the annual Sonya Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day event Friday, Aug. 30 from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Held on The W’s campus, SK Day has been a staple for more than two decades.
“The event is hosted by our mathematics faculty members here at The W. It is aimed at high school girls and mathematics teachers, male or female. We open with a keynote speaker, who sparks student interest in mathematics by choosing topics that might interest high school students,” said Dr. Joshua Hanes, associate professor of mathematics and organizer of the event.
Dr. Clifton Wingard, retired W faculty, will return as the keynote speaker again this year. This time, he will speak about “patterns” to those in attendance.
Aside from the keynote address, there are a number of other activities for the students throughout the day.
“We also host our own small group break-out sessions for students to explore mathematical concepts that don’t always come up in the classroom, involving games, puzzles and hands-on activities. There is a competition exam that students take for a chance to win prizes, including Texas Instruments devices and W scholarships,” Hanes said.
Each year, invitations are sent to schools within a two-hour drive of The W. Typically three to seven schools participate. This year, there are estimated to be between 65-90 students attending.
The main goal of the program is fostering an interest in mathematics within the students, so that they might pursue a career in the field.
“The amount of mathematics that high school students encounter before coming to college is such a small portion of what they will need in order to pursue a career in the field. Having a strong foundation in mathematics also makes it easier to transition into any STEM field. Over the course of study of mathematics, students develop transportable skills that they can use not only in the pursuit of pure mathematics, but also mathematics-adjacent careers and graduate studies such as engineering, physics, computer programming and chemistry,” Hanes said.
To learn more about the event, please visit www.muw.edu/scimath/activities/kovalevsky/.