Open Your Mind to Sports. Open Your Mind to Math

The Idea

The idea to combine math and sports was already sitting in our OMC Slack channel. Last summer, OMC students were brainstorming how to create a mathematics scavenger hunt as an introduction to launch student created videos program for Expii. The students came up with different locations and themes which would introduce all the things that our students loved about Orlando with mathematics: sports, which included the Magic and Orlando City Soccer, skateboarding, and our iconic Lake Eola park, where concerts, demonstrations, festivals, and food markets take place, the most popular Orlando outdoor gathering place.

So, of course, when I received the email from James that went out to the Global Math Project community with his idea to do sports exchanges, I jumped on it. No matter who you are, if you live in Orlando, you have a connection to the local sports teams. When the goal is to change negative attitudes towards mathematics, one should connect it to something that people feel good about.  Sports is definitely a feel-good activity for most, whether they are playing or just watching others. This is important because mathematics is a gateway for all STEM majors and careers

The Magic

At the beginning of April, I reached out to the Magic, introducing OMC and the Global Math Project and asking if a few Magic players could be involved in a community project showing that mathematics could be fun and accessible. I also asked if the Magic film crew could record a video. The Magic proposed their community ambassador, Bo Outlaw, facilitate this exchange. I was thrilled that the Magic were even talking to us, let alone entertaining the idea for this video.

The Magic strive to make a positive impact on our community through a variety of initiatives. Through programs like  NBA Math Hoops , the NBA makes an effort to promote math education. So yes, the Magic were onboard to support this project to help change attitudes towards mathematics! Thank you Magic and Bo Outlaw for this awesome assist!

This was incredible for OMC, because to have a sponsor with such breadth of reach in our community was special since we have never had any big corporate sponsors helping with any of our programs before. OMC, just like GMP, is grassroots, meaning it’s a volunteer run young community organization without any sources of funding except private and in kind donations. With the Magic agreeing to be a part of this project, the benefit is far beyond providing resources and creating the video. Now, kids who love basketball and the Magic might be more likely to give OMC a try and participate in the OMC’s Exploding Dots Video Challenge in October as part of Global Math Week 2018.  Our OMC students who attended all thought this was super cool and are telling their friends about their great experience! This word-of-mouth advertising is how we’ve grown our community of students and will continue to propel it forward.

Making It Happen

So, now that the Magic and James were on board, OMC needed to secure a venue with a basketball court. To set the exact date I needed availability from three different parties: our mathematician, our basketball team, and the venue…oh yes, and student attendees. I first started coordinating the dates between the Magic’s Bo Outlaw and James Tanton. I also emailed four local public high schools and Lake Highland Preparatory with whom OMC has already developed relationships over the past two years through events and student participation. The goal was to get a handful of schools to bring their students. I asked for a combination of student basketball athletes from boys and girls teams wearing their basketball team uniform and some math enthusiasts, basketball coach and a math coach or a resource teacher to accompany students.

Four out of five schools were interested in attending the event and Lake Highland Preparatory offered the use of their basketball court. Lake Highland Preparatory has been an OMC  supporter from the very beginning. This is where Orlando Math Circle was born, where my son, Ari originally started meetings with a group of his friends. It is centrally located and has allowed OMC to hold many community events open to the public. Thank you Lake Highland Prep!

Had the school basketball court option fallen through, I knew we could rely on the Rosen Jewish Community Center, Rosen JCC has been an OMC supporter since we were first introduced to them through The Collective, which launched March 2017 and is made up of change agents, social disruptors and nonprofits leaders who are trying to make a difference in the community. The Collective is meant to empower and inspire its members through collaboration and education. It has certainly done that for OMC.  We successfully held our Global Math Week 2017 Math Festival at the Rosen JCC last October, our Math Kangaroo Competition, and a NASA guest speaker event for math and physics enrichment. I have learned that you always need back up plans for carrying out successful events. Thank you, Rosen JCC!

I also contacted Jen Vargas, an Orlando social media influencer, to ask if she could join our basketball math learning exchange to live stream, post, and tweet about it. I met Jen Vargas at one of The Collective meetings. I am so grateful to her for advising and coming to promote this basketball math video project. Thank you, Jen!

We had to create flyers, banners, social media posts, stickers, etc. to spread the word about our event. We got permission from the Orlando Magic to put their logo on our banner and got our social media posts approved with their communications. Nothing with a big corporate name can go out without first getting their sign off.