SeDoMoCha Middle School celebrates sixth annual Pi Day

DOVER-FOXCROFT — A snow storm may have moved the event back a week from the 14th day of the third month of the year to March 21, but the enthusiasm was not dampened as students and teachers at SeDoMoCha Middle School celebrated the sixth annual Pi Day with various events connecting to the dessert which is a homophone of the term for the non-terminating ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

With grades 5-8 gathered in the gym near the end of the day — starting the 15th hour which would have been 15:00 on the 14th day of the third month (for 3.1415 … ) pre-snowstorm — grade 7 math teacher Nichole Martin said, “Welcome to Pi Day, a little bit late but better late than never.”

Martin said students from each homeroom would be taking part in jump rope and hula hoop competitions, as well as pie eating contests. “We had 18 amazingly delicious pies brought in today,” she said, as several of these dishes were selected to win honors such as most creative with the use of the digits of Pi, best tasting, and best overall appearance.

“Each grade level math teacher had a contest to recite the most digits of Pi,” Martin said, with the top three students each presented with a certificate. “I want the first-place winner of each grade level to stay up here because they a special treat. Every winner gets to choose one math teacher or another teacher to throw a pie at.”

For grade 5 Cody Bagley placed third as he correctly recited 119 digits of Pi, Alexis Heretakis came in second with 134 digits and Jaida Campbell earned top honors with a count of 150 digits. Campbell chose technology teacher Jason Dean to hit with a pie as the middle school student body cheered her on.

In grade 6 Allison Smith and Jaden Raymond tied for second place with 90 digits apiece. Martin then introduced grade 6 winner Peyton Wellman, who selected his math teacher Andrew Levensalor to be his target of a pie attack.

“He had the most in the whole school, he had 187 digits,” Martin said.

Among seventh-graders Justice Batchelder came in third at 85 digits, Adam Taylor was second at 93 and Carter Pratt earned top honors at 105 digits. Pratt opted to let Taylor — who won as a sixth-grader — take the throw, and no sooner had Levensalor wiped the cream out of his eyes and off his face when he was stuck by a second pie to the face.

Miles Gadwah earned third-place honors among grade 8 students with 81 digits and Marshall Burt came in second with a count of 104 digits of Pi.

“For another year first place goes to Jasper Makowski with 186 digits,” Martin said, as Makowski won his grade level last year and as a fifth-grader in 2015.

Martin said she had a trick up her sleeve for Makowski’s final year of Pi Day at SeDoMoCha Middle School as he would don the trash bag covering over his torso to protect his clothes from the mess of whipped cream. A year after Makowski struck grade 8 math teacher Laura Moors with a pie the tables were turned as Moors got some sweet revenge by lobbing a plate at her student and he was the one left standing on the protective tarp with whipped cream on his face.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
WHEN THE PIE HITS YOUR EYE … — SeDoMoCha Middle School technology teacher Jason Dean takes a pie to the face from fifth-grader Jaida Campbell during the school’s sixth annual Pi Day on March 21. A storm moved the event based around the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter back from the 14th day of the third month, but students enjoyed various contests including a Pi recitation competition. Each grade level winner had the honor of lobbing a plate of whipped cream at a teacher and Campbell earned the grade 5 honors by correctly identifying the first 150 digits of Pi.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
FACETIME — SeDoMoCha Middle School sixth-grader Peyton Wellman had the opportunity to hit his math teacher Andrew Levensalor with a pie during the sixth annual Pi Day on March 21. Wellman had the opportunity by reciting the most digits of Pi among the grade 6 students, and he also led all the grade 5-8 pupils with a digit count of 187.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
NOT AGAIN — No sooner had SeDoMoCha Middle School grade 6 math teacher Andrew Levensalor wiped the cream out of his eyes and off his face when he was stuck by a second pie to the face, this one from seventh-grader Adam Taylor.

Observer photos/Stuart Hedstrom
SWEET REVENGE — SeDoMoCha Middle School grade 8 math teacher Laura Moors turned the table on eighth-grader Jasper Makowski during the annual Pi Day events in Dover-Foxcroft on March 21. A year after Makowski lobbed a pie at Moors, she got to return the favor and leave him standing with whipped cream all over his face. Makowski recited 186 digits of Pi to earn top grade 8 honors, and take home the grade-level title for the second year in a row and third time in his four years at SeDoMoCha Middle School.