Updates about Mathcamp 2024

In 2024 Mathcamp went back to the beautiful campus of the University of Puget Sound, in Tacoma, WA – this was our seventh summer there! We had our favorite dorms this summer (with a superb main lounge), and once again loved the green spaces and tall trees of UPS.

Our students this year

Our student cohort consisted of 47 girls, 69 boys, and 4 non-binary students, ages 14 to 19. Of these, 100 students came from 23 different US states; our 20 international students came from Aruba, Bulgaria, Canada, China, India, Italy, Russia, South Korea, Spain, and Ukraine.

We did so much math!

We ran 20 to 25 different courses every week, taught by our staff, several invited instructors, and many of our visiting veterans. As always, most courses were on topics that students typically only see in college; examples from this summer were “The circle method and Waring’s problem,” “Measure and Martin’s axiom,” and “Intro to Elliptic Curves.” Introductions to basic areas of mathematics were offered early in the summer, so those with less experience could take them before diving into the advanced offerings. We also ran projects – 114 campers took part in 39 different projects of all kinds – reading projects, engineering, crafts, and lots of pure math. (Classical cryptanalysis, Mathematical engineering with Arduino and Raspberry Pi, Make a Gingerbread Calculator.) Read the schedule and descriptions here.

We talked even more about math

We had lots of mathy time outside of classes. Two daily hours of “TAU” time had staff and students spread out in groups all over one of UPS’s beautiful quads, talking about that week’s courses. We had each camper meeting with their assigned academic adviser every week, to help align their course choices with their preparation and interests. Conversations with advisors covered a range of other topics too: older campers got to discuss things like college applications, and newer campers got help managing their non-academic time, their social activities and their overall comfort at camp. A new thing we did this year was a session every week called “Meet Next Week’s Teachers,” right after advising meetings. And of course we talked about math at every other time possible: on buses to field trips, at lunch, in the lounges.

We had so much fun

Evenings at camp were packed with scheduleboard events run by campers and staff. Silliness and mathiness flowed unthrottled. Events included “Real number trivia,” ”Walk to the dining hall like a flock of flamingos,” “Give staff very bad ideas for their D & D characters” – and a talk by a camper on “The wonders of modular functions.” Students appreciated this atmosphere of complete freedom, with many mentioning it in our end-of-camp survey. Weekend field trips included berry picking, a trip to Seattle, contra dancing, and ice skating. We also ran a dramatic day-long puzzle hunt that a group of veterans spent eight months creating, and solved math problems at weekly relays (including a madly successful impromptu relays-in-the-pool-in-the-quad, when the pool turned out to be un-lifeguarded). We created a beautiful yearbook that much emotional time at the end of camp was spent signing and reading.

We built culture and community

Many students who came from environments where their peers don’t share their deep interest in math, or where they’re the only girl in their math club, or where they haven’t experienced math outside a competitive framework, spoke about the happiness of being surrounded by mathematical peers, sometimes for the first time. Staff were deeply engaged and formed supporting relationships with many campers. Our returning alums helped carry forward the academic and social cultures of Mathcamp: academically, we strive to be non-competitive, welcoming of many different styles of learning, and accommodating of many levels of preparation; socially, we are inclusive and encouraging of curiosity and connection. We ran a workshop on the impostor syndrome, at which staff shared their personal experiences. We ran a workshop titled “The Future of You,” in which we talked about colleges and careers, and one titled “The Future of Mathcamp,”at which campers got to tell us what they think Mathcamp should look like – because Mathcamp belongs to them.

Thank you for supporting us this past year. Our community of donors helped us to bring together 120 incredible students and 30 wonderful staffs for 5 amazing weeks at Mathcamp 2024. We truly appreciate you!