Los Medanos College students were able to put their brains to the test at “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” hosted by the Math Club Oct. 7 in the Math building.
The game featured a Jeopardy-like game where participants could choose different topics such as English, math, history, science and geography and other brain teasers.
All of the options were worth a different number of points. Students were able to compete with other students by being the first ones to press their buzzer in order to score a point for themselves and to accumulate points to win the prize at the end.
Secretary Elaha Wahidi emphasizes the goal of the Math Club when it comes to coordinating events such as these:
“The purpose is to do something fun, but not all of the questions are math-related. It’s meant to be a fun trivia night. It’s to show students that our club isn’t just about math, but it’s also a socializing club, to have fun and make friends,” Wahidi said. It’s not solely about math but about building community on campus.
As the questions got more and more difficult, many students were left pondering how to think of a close answer.
Upon a hard question that involves a calculus problem, many people were stuck on it, as it involves doing the actual equation on the board. The president of the Math club,
Juan Becerra, did his equation on the board to explain the process of getting the answer to the problem.
Student Megan Ellsworth and her younger daughter Bethany Ellsworth, who is a third grader, came in to join in on the fun and ended up being the winners of the hour. Ellsworth emphasizes that taking breaks when needed is crucial to getting back on track after giving your mind a break. “For me personally, I study for big chunks of time and then I take small breaks in between and we saw a flyer and it sounded interesting,” Ellsworth said. They received a gift card, a notebook and candy as their prize for being the team with the most points.
Wrapping up the event, Vice President Jessica Wahi encourages students to engage in on-campus events.
“I think it’s important to go outside of the classroom and connect with other people and build a community where they feel comfortable and find purpose in a community that they can connect with,” Wahi said.
“I want students to leave with the feeling that they can come here whenever they need to relax and also have fun,” Becerra said. The afternoon was filled with many good laughs and an overall wonderful atmosphere as students got to put their knowledge to the test. Not only does it test your knowledge, but people also get to learn and leave with something new that they didn’t know before.
