November 18, 2011

Sarah is the kind of friend you might find yourself talking to for hours on end until early in the morning about everything. And believe me, with Sarah that everything might include a fair bit of math. Once on vacation to Las Vegas she gave me a middle school math quiz and was horrified with the results. So when she told me that her school’s math team needed a mascot for their t-shirts—I knew I had to do it. I mean c’mon MATH VIKINGS? I knew a viking hat would be involved… and perhaps a calculator, but I wasn’t sure how. After a few rounds of sketches my bearded math mascot came together.

I’m glad it did. I heard the math vikings were pretty into the shirts.

The math vikings are a team of 6th-8th grade math teachers at Dimmitt middle school in Renton, Washington. The 10 teachers teach 900 kids total and their mission is inspiring: “to help students develop mathematical understanding along with an appreciation for the rich connections among mathematical strands and between mathematics and other disciplines.” Go Math Vikings!