Humboldt’s annual math festival returns

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics jobs–also known as STEM– are expected to increase four times as much as regular jobs in the next 10 years. A retired science teacher hopes to spark interest in STEM jobs with the Humboldt Math Festival.

“It’s a community celebration of math with activities and science, technology, engineering and math and how math interweaves in all those activities,” said Ken Pinkerton, Math Festival Coordinator. 

This festival aims to give a positive spin to the world of mathematics with hands-on activities. There will be engineering challenges, games, presentations and more. Some of the activities require building and you can take your creation home. 

“Some of the make-and-take things are, Green Diamond is going to be making clinometers which show, students [that] they can measure the height of trees or other objects in town,” Pinkerton said. “So they’ll be making and taking those home.”

This festival started in 2007 to celebrate math and the various ways you can engage with it. There will also be math-related college and career booths. This event is free and open to everyone.

“Definitely community members too, anybody who is interested in math or enjoys math, come on down,’ Pinkerton said. “we’ll have a Pi reciting contest and we’ll also have a group there that’s doing Rubik’s cubes.”

Last year, 700 people attended this festival and the coordinator hopes to break that record this year. The math festival is this Saturday at the Adorni Center starting at noon.