Senior Math Award Gift Ideas
Graduation is in TWO WEEKS, so I spent some time this weekend putting together our department’s Senior Math Award gift bag. Each year, we choose a senior who has demonstrated excellence, perseverance, and growth in mathematics. The ideal candidate has taken all of the AP math courses offered at our school (AP Statistics, AP Calculus, and AP Computer Science). This senior is often a member of our school’s Math Team.
Since I teach AP Calculus, I typically have this student during their senior year, so I purchase the items and put together the gift bag. Each teacher in our department is asked to donate money towards the gift, usually $10 per person. One of the secretaries at our school prints off official awards on resume paper to put with the gift bag, and all of the awards from each department are handed out during the graduation ceremony, where the winners are announced.
Some departments put all the money towards a card with cash in it, and others use the money to purchase a gift card for the college bookstore where the student will attend in the Fall. I like to do a combination of both so that they is something physical to hand the student, but also cash so they can spend it as they want. Last year, the math award winner didn’t decide on a college until very late, so I couldn’t get them anything related to that. Instead, I got them a fun math-related book: Math With Bad Drawings.
This year, our winner is going to UMass Amherst, so I got him some college swag, which was a great price on the college website!
Our town has an amazing Dollar Tree with perfect gift bag fillers, so I got a graduation-themed rubber duckie and unicorn for fun, a graduation-themed mug full of candy, some party poppers and decorations, and glittery décor for the gold bag.
I got a card that I will pass around to each teacher in the math department for them to write a message and sign. Once it’s all set, I will tape a $100 bill in the card. Last year, I also taped a $1 and $2 coin in the card since they’re cool and unusual! I might try to do that again.
Congratulations to our senior award winner!