STEAM will take over on March 14 as students throughout the school will be invited to celebrate science, technology, engineering, art, and math with various guest speakers and interesting activities.

“It’s going to be a great opportunity for students to get an up close and personal look at the various professions available in the [STEAM] field,” Justine Repplinger, math teacher, said. “[They] should definitely take advantage of this opportunity.”

The areas of expertise covered by the speakers at Pi Day are far and wide, according to Repplinger. Artificial intelligence, sales and finance, physics, chemistry, and nuclear engineering are just a few of the career options available for students to explore.

“I personally am the most excited to see the person who works with prosthetics,” Repplinger said. “I have such high respect for people whose career choice leads to an improved life for others.”

The school has been working hard to provide many exciting, talented professionals for students to enjoy. Brian Agustin, science department chair, is responsible for the science, technology, and engineering parts of the event. Julie Bryniczka, math department chair, is in charge of the math portion. And the newly added Art section will be led by Angela Fortune, the Fine Arts department chair. All three reached out to the best in each field and are already planning who to invite for next year’s Pi Day event.

“We wanted to bring speakers that would truly excite the students,” Agustin said. “We’ve got the inventor of Siri, the architect in charge of the new hotel across from Wrigley Field; people like this represent all the good you can do with STEAM skills.”

However, Pi Day isn’t just an event for those whose career choice follows a mathematical or scientific path. This year’s event has adapted the former STEM program to include an A for Art, integrating yet another facet into the many career opportunities showcased at Pi Day. According to Agustin, the creative traits coming from artistic fields are equally essential to students’ futures as those skills they can learn from math and science.

“From a [career] standpoint, you need to have creative skills,” Agustin said. “All the presenters are going to be talking about problem solving, which is a necessary skill in every single career. Art uses innovation, through design for example, that can very much help with problem solving.”

Agustin and Repplinger both agree that skills, not just pizza, are what they want students to take away from the Pi Day events. According to Repplinger, math and science are how society has come to understand their relationship with the world, and for that reason, it plays a part in all of our lives, even if it’s in the smallest ways.

“Take a look at being a lawyer. That’s a job most would say doesn’t involve any STEAM fields,” Agustin said. “But say you have a case that involves aspects of those fields. If you can use the knowledge you have to help your case, that will in the end make you better at your job.”

Through Pi Day, the school hope to expose students to more options for their future and introduce them to jobs they might never have known about previous to Pi Day, according to Repplinger.

“Education requires one to always be learning new things and adapting to society’s changes,” Repplinger said. “Pi Day integrates technology into our schools and I hope it’ll help better prepare everyone for a successful future.”