My son Paul is in his Freshman year at Paly
High School. The Palo Alto school year runs later than that of
Harker from which my daughter just graduated
so Paul is just starting to prepare for his final exams. We were surprised and
delighted last week to get a formal invitation from the Paul’s Math teacher to
attend the 29 May Annual Mathematics Department Awards.
The evening started with a speech by a Paly Grad who had gone on to become a Math professor.
This interesting talk was followed by each teacher presenting certificates to their notable
students. Paul was given an Excellence in Mathematics certificate for being consistently
at the top of his Algebra class. Some of the certificates were of the “most improved”
or “best attitude” variety but others were for the “first perfect exam I
have seen in 20 years as a teacher” or for the “first A+ grades I have ever
given”. I was very impressed by the passion and dedication of Paly’s Math
teachers. The students were about evenly mixed between boys and girls. One of the
teachers did point out that she was about to bust some stereotypes and then called
up her three best advanced Math students – three girls with long blond hair.
Each certificate had the student’s name, what they were honored for, and signatures by their own
teacher and the head of the department. At the bottom was the round Official Seal
of the Palo Alto High School Mathematics Department. In the center of the seal was
a picture of a little Greek ship plus the letters
π α λ ψ
μ α θ
The evening was full of similarly geeky math jokes. One teacher got up and
said that he was the median presenter that evening and that if we didn’t know what
that meant, we were in the wrong place. Paul loved it.
