Mr Smith’s adverPIsing is a sign for the times
Every 14 March, Grange Academy’s Mr Smith’s annual PiDay celebrations bring a special day in the Mathematical calendar to life for his pupils.
Although its digits continue without ever stopping, the Mathematical constant pi begins 3.14 and that is why 14 March (the fourteenth day of the third month) has become international PiDay. Pi is worthy of celebrating as it is crucial to so many areas of Mathematics, from the area of circles to the angles in triangles and the infinite sum of reciprocal squares.
In the build up to PiDay 2022, Grange Academy pupil Laurie Finlayson dedicated airtime on his HBSA Radio show to the mathematical celebrations. The volunteer DJ at Crosshouse Hospital’s radio station played “PiMCA”, a much-loved musical parody of “YMCA”, which was recorded on PiDay 2013!
This year, the ever-creative Mr Smith joined forces with Smart Outdoor and took over their digital billboard on Queens Drive, Kilmarnock for the day. Mr Smith said: “I wondered if it would be possible for me to wangle a wee advert for PiDay onto the giant digital billboard on Queen’s Drive during 14 March. I pitched this idea to the folks at Smart Outdoor and they loved the idea so much that they offered to provide us with 10 seconds every minute for the entire day. Now all I needed was to inspire the creative geniuses at Grange to come up with some digital adverPIsing campaigns worthy of announcing PiDay and sharing the love we have for Mathematics and this irrational number.”
The young people from Grange Academy were asked to create posters, videos or animations that would be eye-catching, joyful, fitting 10-second tributes to PiDay. Mr Smith selected some of the best creations and these ended up on the big screen.
Mr Smith said: “The entries were brilliant! It’s so hard to single out my favourites. Eilidh and her dad made a phenomenally delicious PiDay cookie – it’s long since been devoured but the video of it coming out of the oven was fantastic. I loved that one of our prizewinners, Charlotte, had another reason to celebrate- PiDay was her birthday!
“Mateusz and Harry showed a charmingly geeky sense of humour in their videos. One theme that came through strongly in a number of videos was that Maths is for everyone. Lewis’ gran Jean begged to be involved – she’s been enjoying the Maths that Lewis has been learning in S1 and loves the puzzles and daft videos I produce. While, Khulood produced a sweet animated version of herself wearing a hijab wishing us a "Happy PiDay".
“I’m delighted that the students want everyone to know that Maths can be enjoyed by anyone even if this message was unprompted by me!”
Gillian Godsell, from Smart Outdoor, said: "We were delighted to support the PiDay celebrations and to see our digital billboard showcasing such joyous celebrations of Maths on 14 March. We are keen to support local causes, especially education, so it was a pleasure to be involved in Mr Smith's latest PiDay project.”