Few organizations have to deal with the negative stereotypes that the Math Club often faces. Like most clubs, however, Creighton’s Math Club focuses on developing a common interest and passion among its members.

Although the subject of math can often send chills down people’s backs, the members of the Math Club find themselves very much comfortable in the world of numbers.

“Personally, it’s not my thing,” Arts & Sciences junior Kathleen Franco said. “But I think it’s cool that Creighton has something like that for those who like math.”

Current member Arts & Sciences senior Kelsey Thiem said she understands that most of the student body’s opinion of the club is less than flattering. She said many envision people sitting quietly in a room playing with graphing calculators. However, the Math Club seeks to correct those misconceptions.

“We make math more fun and accessible to everyone – even those who aren’t math majors or minors,” Thiem said.

In the past, the club has reached out in many different ways to the Creighton student body. In the past year, it has held movie nights featuring films with math-centric themes such as “Stand and Deliver” and “21.” Every year, they also hold a poker and

Yahtzee night.

Thiem said she hopes the Math Club will continue to plan games that integrate math to make it interactive and fun.

Along with games, the club hosts two major events every year: Pi Day and the Math Bowl competition. Last year for Pi Day, which falls on the March 14 (3.14), the group handed out slices of pie and had math majors present their research to an audience. The annual Math Bowl also offers people who have an interest in solving math problems a chance to earn prizes by competing in teams.

“Our goal was to show that math is very dynamic and has many exciting applications,” said former president and current member Sumit Kar, Arts & Sciences senior.

Members like Kar are hoping to broaden the scope of math as well. Kar said he hopes to integrate the Jesuit mission with other activities such as community service. They also plan on utilizing their math skills by partnering with Upward Bound to tutor high

school students.

Yet despite their impressive goals, Kar said there are some challenges in the way. He says the club still finds it difficult to maintain regular members and attendance. The Math Club still draws in mainly math majors and minors but would like to appeal to students of different majors as well.

Through film, games and volunteering opportunities, the club seems to be doing just that.

“The misconception is that the Math Club is boring and anti-social, but as you can see from this list of events, math club actually involves a great deal of fun,” Thiem said. “It’s a great way to make friends who share a love of numbers without being intimidated by actually having to compute many things.”