SeDoMoCha Middle School celebrates seventh annual Pi Day

DOVER-FOXCROFT — For the seventh year students and teachers at SeDoMoCha Middle School celebrated the 14th day of the third month with various events for Pi Day. The activities connect 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 during the middle of the morning grade 8 math teacher Laura Moors said, “The last thing we do on Pi Day usually the students like best because the teachers get messy.”

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
GETTING BACK AT THE PRINCIPAL — SeDoMoCha School Principal Adam Gudore gets hit with a pie from eighth-grader Adam Taylor during the Dover-Foxcroft school’s seventh annual Pi Day on March 14. Each grade level winner in a contest to recite the most digits of the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter earned the honor of lobbing a plate of whipped cream at a faculty member and Taylor won grade 8 by correctly identifying the first 99 digits of Pi.

Grade level math teachers held contests to see who can recite the most digits of Pi, and the top three from grades 5-8 each were called down. The third- and second-place reciters were honored first and then came the announcement of the four grade winners.

“As a reward for all our first-place winners and all their hard work memorizing all the digits of Pi, they get to pie a math teacher in the face,” Moors said.

For grade 5 Ashlyn Mageau placed third as she correctly recited the first 54 digits of Pi. Natalie Cavanaugh came in second with a count of 99 and Abby Adkins earned top honors at 106 digits. Adkins chose technology teacher Jason Dean to hit with a pie (a plate full of whipped cream) as the middle school student body cheered her on.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
FACE TO PLATE — Seventh-grader Peyton Wellman won his grade level Pi recitation contest for the second year in a row. This year he chose to get Assistant Principal Andrew Shaw with a pie. Shaw and Principal Adam Gudroe both were victims of pie attacks, but the two came prepared with a change of clothes.

In grade 6 Ingrid Berling came in third with 109 digits of Pi and finishing second was Cody Bagley at 111. Heidi Clawson had a SeDoMoCha-best 160 digits correctly named in order but she opted to let Bagley have the pie throwing honor. Bagley selected his math teacher Andrew Levensalor to be his target of a pie attack.

Among seventh-graders Aleks Krause came in third with 86 digits, Ethan Downs was second at 112 and Peyton Wellman earned top honors at 138 digits. Wellman, who won the Pi contest the year prior in grade 6, chose to hit Assistant Principal Andrew Shaw in the face with his pie.

Annie Raynes earned third-place honors among grade 8 students with a count of 86 digits and Ella Molaghan came in second at 61.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
WHIP IT GOOD — Grade 6 Pi recitation contest winner Heidi Clawson — who led all students at a count of 160 digits — opted to let grade 6 runner-up Cody Bagley hit their math teacher Andrew Levensalor with a tin plate covered in whipped cream as the entire SeDoMoCha Middle School looks on.

Adam Taylor won his grade for the second time in three years as came in first among eighth-graders with a Pi count of 99 digits. Taylor decided that Principal Adam Gudroe needed a pie in the face.

“Thank you, I think you all have a better understanding of all things circle in your math class and you can see that math can be fun,” grade 7 math teacher Nichole Martin said.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom
PIE IN THE EYE — SeDoMoCha Middle School fifth-grader Abby Adkins hits technology teacher Jason Dean in the face with a pie during the annual Pi Day events on March 14. Adkins led all grade 5 students by reciting 106 digits of Pi, earning the right to get a teacher in the face with a pie.

Eleven entries came in for the pie baking challenges. The best tasting dessert was Elyse Richards’ apple pie. Evalyn Fisk earned top overall appearance honors for her blueberry pie. A raspberry treat made by Leah Hill was judged to have made the most creative use of the Pi concept.

Pi Day was sponsored by the Dover-Foxcroft Save-A-Lot and Will’s Shop ‘n Save as the two grocery stores donated whipped cream, cookies and supplies.