By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

RESERVE – Building on a tradition started just last year, Riverside Academy dedicated Monday evening to all things math and science related.

At its second Math and Science Night, the school’s cafeteria and some of its classrooms were turned into makeshift science labs as middle and high school students, acting as mentors, led the school’s younger students through simple experiments meant to stoke their interest in science and math.

“I want the kids to get exposed to science and think, ‘Why is this happening?’” said Science Department chair Angie Klibert. “It is such a science- and math-based world.”

Although science still overtly dominated the evening’s experiments, which covered nearly all the scientific disciplines with fun and easy experiements, event organizers were more conscious this year of integrating math into the activities.

“Last year we didn’t incorporate as much math into it,” said Math Department chair Angie Roussel. “Math can be fun, too.”

She said her students were running the concessions so they could hone their money computing skills. A spinning wheel, which determined how many chocolate pieces the children would get for dessert, was meant to introduce the concept of probability.

Roussell said that today’s pervasive technology does not mean children do not need to learn math anymore.

“It really is important that they know and understand a concept,” she said. “They need to be able to cope in the real world.”

According to Assistant Principal Dr. Rhonda Perkins, the event featured almost all new experiments this year. Additionally, Band Director Darryl Clement led a group of fourth-grades through a song and dance involving “boom whacker” sticks.

“We wanted the children to understand the science of sound,” said Perkins.

This year also featured an opening act even bigger than last year’s volcano.

Coach Joe Trosclair, donning a chicken head, dropped eggs from the top of the ladder on a fire engine to see which of the student-packed padded packages could survive the fall.

Perkins said the school will try to outdo itself for the introductory experiment each year.

While the younger children seemed to enjoy the sometimes mind-bending experiments, the mentors and teachers seemed to enjoy the event just as much.

“It’s a fun night for everybody,” said Roussel.