Ealing students make fundraising as easy as Life of Pi
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School children from Ealing got sponsored to remember as many consecutive numbers as they could
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St Benedict's 'Pi Fest' raised over £1000 for CAFOD
A mathematical memory test raised more than £1000 for CAFOD in a scene reminiscent of a recent blockbuster film.
Members of a Year 9 Maths class at St Benedict’s School, Ealing, paid homage to the film Life of Pi when they were sponsored to remember as many consecutive digits from the number π (pi) as they could.
And after practising for only two days, student Rebecca Walker successfully recited an impressive 260 digits, beating the previous school record of 221 which had stood for eight years.
Teacher Stefan Scicinski encouraged his Year 9 Maths class to take on the challenge on December 17. The whole class stood and chanted the digits, and pupils sat down when their memory ran out. Louis Delsol recited 90 digits to come second after Rebecca, and Marcin Scicinski – who also collected most sponsorship – came third by remembering 71 digits. Their efforts raised £1058 for CAFOD.
In the film Life of Pi, the main character convinces others he has changed his name to Pi by repeating as many digits from π as he can remember.
According to Wikipedia, the record for memorizing digits of π, certified by Guinness World Records, is 67,890 digits, recited in China by Lu Chao in 24 hours and 4 minutes on November 20, 2005.
CAFOD volunteer Maggie Beirne attended the Ealing 'Pi fest', to collect the pupils' donation and thank them for supporting CAFOD in such a unique and inventive way. She said: "It was great! I congratulated them on their hard work, the amount of money raised and the ingenuity of the idea and spoke to them briefly about CAFOD and our campaign on food."
Tony Sheen CAFOD manager for the Ealing area, said: "Thanks once again to Mr Scicinski who organised the event, to Maggie Beirne, to Rebecca and all the year 9 Maths class, and to all at St Benedict’s for their wonderful contributions to CAFOD.
"The amount raised is enough to help CAFOD pay for enough starter packs to give 150 children the essentials they need to go to school or to install a complete clean water supply for a community."
