Inaugural Math Drive a Huge Success

The St. Mary’s Ryken (SMR) chapter of Mu Alpha Theta (MAT) – Math National Honor Society – may be in its first year, but that didn’t stop it from making a noticeable impact on the community.

Alongside other community programs, the honor society, which consists of sophomores, juniors, and seniors, worked to put valuable math supplies into the hands of those who need them most. In partnership with Best Buddies, MAT gathered several boxes full of paper, notebooks, calculators, pencils, and other math-related materials to donate to local children in the community. Donations were collected in math classrooms around the SMR campus for two weeks in May.

Collection boxes were generously provided by Staples of Lexington Park.

“We are extremely grateful to everyone who was involved in this process,” said founder and president Tanner George ’24. “Our efforts wouldn’t have been possible without Mrs. Beth Allen, SMR Campus Minister and Best Buddies agreeing to take our donations, without Staples contributing the collection boxes, and especially without the SMR community giving the supplies we were seeking. We’re also incredibly grateful to SMR’s math teachers, who graciously allowed us to collect materials in their classrooms."

“Above all, our dedicated society members were the ones who really breathed life into this project," Tanner continued. "When now-VP Niko Kyritsopolous ’25 first presented the idea, it quickly became apparent that math-related community service is what we truly excel at – a notion that resonated with all society members. I’m incredibly proud of the great team we had this year; they made the Math Drive a huge success!”

Mu Alpha Theta expects the Math Drive to make its return next spring. Applications to the society will be released in the fall and will be open to sophomore students and above.