Since the very beginning of EMC, in our effort to promote math among kids of all abilities and fight the fear of math, we have been organizing free family math quests and games. We originally started in San Jose. Later, EMC won a grant to host mathematical games and quests for the community in Salesforce Park in downtown San Francisco. The city required the owners to build this park and hold community events in it, and we’ve organized events there in collaboration with Salesforce. We really like the place - it is a beautiful green oasis in the middle of shiny skyscrapers!
This year, we have expanded our events to other cities - Los Angeles, San Diego, New Jersey, and New York.
The math quests are for everybody - children and their families.
Kids (grades K-6) and their parents follow a magical storyline and embark on a mathematical adventure. Throughout this adventure, they solve math problems, logical riddles, and find clues that lead them along the journey. Completion of the quest is celebrated with little gifts for the children and participants. This way, we connect families by sharing common challenges that are interesting and fun to work on.
So far, we’ve held two quests in Salesforce Park - “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” and “Take to the Skies” to celebrate Fleet Week. Thank you so much to all who volunteered and participated!
The kids had an amazing time.
Our director Anna Margolis shares her experience:
“It was amazing to see new kids and families come out excited from this magical journey. One of the dads said to me, 'I work in the field of bioinformatics, and the way we had to solve your riddle with the beads is exactly how we decode patterns in the data we process every day at work. I was so happy to be able to draw this parallel with my kids as we played!”
I am so happy too. I know we will change the way kids, parents, and teachers see math!”
We would also like to thank our sponsor, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (they own and operate the Salesforce park), and Minuteman Press - Santa Clara, who helped us with all our printing needs for the first quest.
We can’t wait to see where the next quest takes us!
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