On Oct. 28, 2025, Stevenson’s math team hosted its annual Math Carnival, where local third through fifth graders came to play math games in booths led by Stevenson students. When the young attendees completed or solved their game, they were awarded “math bucks,” which could be traded in for prizes.
During Math Carnival, students were asked to solve a variety of math problems that tested a variety of skills. Along with learning math, students had a variety of booths to choose from—one of them being “Candy Chess,” where solving math problems gave opportunities for moves on the chessboard. Running the “Candy Chess” booth, Ananya Iyer ’28 spent time thinking before creating her game.
“I wanted to create a game that would interest the younger students,” Iyer said. “Candy is something that many kids like, and chess is a very logical and strategic game, so I just made a game out of it.”
(Jill Wang)
Rather than running a booth like Iyer, Amritha Praveen ’27 was responsible for overseeing and managing all of the booths. On the day of Math Carnival, Praveen assisted in the setup and decorations at the event.
“On the day of the carnival, I had to move the booths around, and I also decorated the board,” Praveen said. “It’s a little bit tedious but everyone knows what they need to do, so time just goes by.”
Although the setup for the booths, prizes, and decorations was completed the day of the event, the planning for the Math Carnival started six to eight weeks beforehand. According to math team coach Bradley Der, the preparation was very involved, requiring the coordination of multiple individuals prior to the event.
“Students have the opportunity to propose games,” Der said. “We had students curate prizes for them, have communication with security, Sodexo, and the district office on certain marketing components. It’s like a circus of many rings of people trying to come together and put on a great event.”
The young participants are encouraged by volunteers to practice solving math problems in order to better understand these skills. Along with being able to practice their math skills, Nina He ’27 says the Math Carnival is a good way to build up math skills beyond the classroom.
“I think the purpose of Math Carnival is to introduce kids to competition math,” He said. “I think that it’ll help younger kids develop math skills because it trains their brain.”
Through these math problems, volunteers like He are able to give students a better sense of how to use new competition tricks. Along with competition math, Der also sees Math Carnival as a way to expose younger students to mathematical concepts beyond competition math.
“Math Carnival is helping kids have fun with math that they know, and helping kids discover some new things about math that they don’t know,” Der said. “Kids learn cool ways to multiply, and some kids are learning what imaginary numbers are.”
Throughout the night, the younger participants are exposed to a variety of mathematical topics ranging from geometry to basic algebra. Students who have experience with Math Carnival may even anticipate specific topics.
“I’ve been to Math Carnival before, and I look forward to the math games, fractions, and decimals,” said Advay Kulkarni, a fifth grade student at Meridian Middle School.
Parents like Shweta Joshi, Kulkarni’s mom, noticed how Math Carnival provides an experience that differs from the standard school curriculum. She said she thinks that these new experiences could change how kids like A. Kulkarni view math.
“Advay is very impressed and is very curious to learn with the games,” Joshi said. “He is enjoying math more than the usual theoretical things.”
According to Der, attending Math Carnival has also prompted some parents’ desire for more opportunities like this beyond math. For some parents, Der says the mix of education and games is what they found most unique.
“There were some parents who were asking if we do this for reading,” Der said. “A lot of parents appreciate that we are trying to combine fun and learning for their students, and they want to see more of it.”
Along with seeing her child’s interest in what Der described as a fun way to learn, some parents like Joshi also find enjoyment in this event. While the students are learning new mathematical techniques, Joshi uses Math Carnival as an opportunity to find ways to help her child find fun in math.
“I really like how the Stevenson kids encourage the math interest in other kids, even the younger ones,” Joshi said. “They can look up to students, and it’s so motivational. As a parent, we are also learning from the Math Team ways to teach math with puzzles and games. It’s different, so I’m enjoying it too.”