Hawthorne Students Set Pi Day Records

Submitted by Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205.

Pi (3.1415926535.​.​.) is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world each March 14th (3.14). T​his year, Hawthorne​ Elementary School ho​s​ted​​its ​4th annual Pi Recital one day early, since ​March 14 ​fell on Saturday.​ Pi Day 2015 was a once​-​in​-​a​-​lifetime​ experience​, ​since 3/14/​15 at9:26 and 53 seconds ​mirrored ​the first 10 digits in ​Pi - 3.141592653.

​”​We always encourage students to stretch their brains by memorizing as many digits of Pi as possible​,” said organizer Geri Sorrentino, who serves as Hawthorne’s REACH teacher.​

This year set a new school record​ ​for ​most participants (124) and most digits recited (401)! ​​Please see list below.

​Hawthorne’s t​op 14 Pi Reciters​ ​are​: Ruth Mathew (401), Jeffrey Mathew (292), Landon Redfearn (255), Gio Santoro (202), Simon Redfearn (194), Mark Stukel (114), Joey Rinchiuso (101), Noah Jonkman (97), Anna Clink (96), Niko Stathopoulous (84), Liam Jordan (84), Audrey Johnson (81), Will Siegenthaler (77), Charlotte Reedy (76), Brianna Borden (76).

Names of t​he 116 students who memorized over 20 digits will ​be sent to the International Pi World Ranking List. They are also ranked by grade level through TeachPi.org​.​

Update:

Hawthorne 4th grader Ruth Mathew (Photo 2) correctly recited 401 digits of ​P​i on March 13, but she was very upset because she said she knew over 1000. She asked if she could recite them again​,​ so on March 17, Principal Nikki​ Tammaru and Geralyn Sorrentino listened and tracked. They stopped her somewhere in the 600s because she missed a digit. They had her repeat the section she missed​; she corrected it and continued on to 1025 digits!

When asked HOW she did it, she said she tried to memorize 50 digits each day since November and her trick was to use the Pi Trainer​. ​Ruth really makes an effort to stretch her brain!

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