Mathletes arrive at competitions full of energy, anticipation, and a bit (sometimes more than a bit) of anxiety. whether parents are observing their mathletes, or just waiting for them, they add their own pride and anxiety to the whirlwind of emotions in the air.
Neither mathletes nor their parents have much time to wonder who set the competition date, arranged for the competition space, hauled in the pencils and scratch paper, and ordered the awards. And they have even less brain space to wonder who planned for snacks and/or the pizzas.
Year after year, our all-around great volunteers, Minnesota’s Chapter Coordinators, handle the details we listed above – and lots more, too.
They answer coaches’ questions, show up at schools to discuss engineering as a career, help plan the state competition, and decide on the entertaining and challenging STEM activities that are part of every state competition. In 2022, those activities included building brush bots and entering them in a brush-bot competition and using household items, including fresh lemons, to generate electricity!
Like the back-stage staff at every theater, the coordinators make the competition happen!