Seltice Elementary celebrates Pi Day with contest, Moon Pies

POST FALLS — Jaws dropped.

Audience members watched in astonishment.

And the numbers kept on coming.

Seltice Elementary School fourth-grader and Pi Day grand champion Emma Riemer wowed the entire school Thursday morning as she recited 299 numbers of the mathematical constant pi, a feat that took plenty of practice and determination.

“It doesn’t matter what grade you’re in, if you try hard enough you can win,” a beaming Emma said, hugging the sweet pi T-shirt, poster, pencils and box of Moon Pies she was awarded after winning the grand champ title.

In its third year, the Seltice Pi Day recitation contest pits contenders from each grade against one another as they courageously stand at the mic and recite as many digits of the never-ending sequence as their powerful young minds can hold. Seltice celebrated on Thursday because Pi Day 2020 is Saturday, not a school day.

Emma was within striking distance of breaking the all-time record of 311 digits. Right on her heels was fourth-grader Kyler Webber at 212 digits, also an impressive feat.

Emma shared a secret to success.

“First I say it out loud 10 times, then I write it down 10 times, then I move on to the next numbers,” she said.

Three students from first through fifth grades commanded the room with their pi performances. Many started out with speed, sailing through the first few dozen numbers with no problem.

Some used the catchy “Pi Song” by Bryant Oden to carry them through (“They said would you like some pi? I said yes I would, I forgot they majored in math I would undo it if I could”) while others put their hands on their heads, looked to the ceiling, paused and feverishly searched their mental files for more numbers before their eyes grew big and they returned to the rhythmic recitation: 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419… and so on.

“It was amazing!” said fifth-grader Kayla Gomes, who watched from the bleachers.

Fifth-grader Ocean Brown said he thought it was really interesting.

“All the memorization, all those digits,” he said.

School counselor Ashley Vanwert served as one of the competition judges.

“I just think it’s pretty impressive that they all take the time. They’re excited about math, they worked really hard — even out of school — hours to memorize this,” she said. “They get up here in front of their peers and are able to hold their own and be proud of themselves, even for the little first-graders.”

Pi Day coordinator and Seltice teacher John Klapp said it takes a lot of guts for these students to present their pi prowess to the whole school.

“It shows they can do these amazing things when they set their minds to it,” he said. “What they can do is they can just perform way better than we ever think, but we often are afraid to set the bar real high. But when we do, they want to meet it. That’s what it’s all about, seeing not where you are, but where you can go.”

Pi Day is annually celebrated on March 14 (3/14) around the world. Pi, represented by the Greek letter “π,” is used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day gives math enthusiasts opportunities to celebrate this mathematical anomaly by reciting the infinite digits, engaging in math discussions and activities — and to eating pie.

Pi has been calculated to more than one trillion digits beyond its decimal point. An irrational and transcendental number, it continues without pattern or repetition.