GT Pie BLog

Congrats to the 2017 Pi Day Video Contest Winners

Posted on March 16, 2017 in Featured | 5 Comments

What a fun Pi Day! We invited Pi and pie lovers to submit a video for a chance to win free pie from GT Pie and bragging rights. We also added a new portion of the contest for schools to win $500 for their classroom. We were overwhelmed with the amazing and creative 2017 Pi Day Video Contest entries and received over 60 videos this year. We loved watching each one, thank you for helping us celebrate Pi Day. A big CONGRATS to all of our winners!

Grand Prize Winner – Best Overall Pi Day Video – Hannah Leong

Hannah is a senior at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but she’s originally from San Jose, California. Her friend, Joline, first introduced Hannah to Grand Traverse Pie Company and suggested Hannah create a video playing her ukelele. Hannah is studying elementary education and has been learning to play the ukelele so she will be able to play songs with her future students. Hannah says, “I’ve been learning lots of simple songs like “Down By the Bay” because many of them can be rewritten to help students remember content — like all about Pi!” Hannah and her friend Amanda wrote the fun Pi Day lyrics and her housemates Nina, Victoria, and Helen helped film the video. Hannah says, “It was a lot of fun and we are all really excited about eating pie together!”

Best Pi Day Kids Video Award – Kids Under 12 –Brenden Lamp

Congratulations to Brenden! At just seven years old, Brenden impressed us with reciting over 86 digits of Pi from memory. He’s in third grade but he’s currently studying 8th-grade pre-algebra. His mom says that Brenden has “always had fun memorizing fun things like the elements and digits of Pi. He likes to watch YouTube videos to learn them.” We hear that Brenden is also a huge fan of Pumpkin Pie. We hope you enjoy the pie and watching your very own video on our YouTube Channel, way to go Brenden!

Honorable Mention for Kids 12 and Under – Adam Shetiah

Congrats to Adam! He’s a student at Macdonald Middle School in East Lansing, Michigan. Adam wowed us with 50 digits of Pi all to a fun beat.

Most Creative Pi Day Video Award – Hunter Reynolds

Congrats, Hunter! Hunter is a senior at Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Georgia. Hunter loves to be creative and to tell stories. We love his creative video of a Pi-rate sailing the seas searching for the rumored pi-land. Hunter is passionate about animation and film making. He used to make movie trailers on the iMovie app with his friends which transpired into creating animations and short films. He hopes to pursue a career in film and commercial media/advertising. We’re certainly impressed!

Honorable Mention for Most Creative – Savannah Bellinger

How many digits of Pi can you memorize? Now, how many can you remember while also hula hooping and twirling in circles? Savannah is an 11-year-old student from Saginaw, Michigan and managed to hula hoop, twirl, and impress us with 57 digits of Pi. Savannah loves math and reading in school and loves to play soccer and be active. Her inspiration came from a Pi memorizing competition in her class. She grabbed a hula hoop and the rest is history!

Most Pi Digits in 15 Seconds Video Award – Abby Puckett

Congrats to Abby who stunned us with 122 digits in 15 seconds! Abby is a junior at Traverse City Central High School. Abby started learning Pi in fifth-grade when her class had a competition for Pi Day. She memorized 170 digits and won a $5 pizza gift card! Abby’s favorite pie at Grand Traverse Pie Company is Lakeshore Berry Crumb. We hope you enjoy the pie and the bragging rights, Abby. Awesome job!

Honorable Mention for Most Pi Digits in 15 Seconds – Thomas Smith

Thomas is a junior at Washtenaw Christian Academy and recited 109 Pi digits in 15 seconds.

Most Creative School Pi Day Video Award – Northwest High School, Germantown, MD

Congrats to the Secret Society of Science Songwriters (4SW) at Northwest High School in Germantown, Maryland! They are the winners of our School Pi Day Video Contest and have won $500 for their school. We were amazed by their beautifully written lyrics that spotlight both Pi digits and the meaning of Pi in mathematics. The club meets after school on Thursdays. Club member Erika enjoys math and proposed the idea of making a Pi song. The club plans to use their award money to purchase school equipment and help the music department.

Honorable Mention – Traverse City West Senior High School Library, Traverse City, MI

Congrats to Traverse City West Senior High Library for this clever and funny Pi Day video! Not only did students share their knowledge of Pi digits but it also has a delicious twist at the end.

Honorable Mention – Alonso High School, Tampa, FL

We loved this creative Pi Day spin on the lyrics from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” Alonso High School in Tampa, Florida has earned an Honorable Mention in our Pi Day School Video Contest! Teacher Rebecca Nguyen says her 9th-grade students really enjoy writing raps and poems and created this creative Pi Day rendition.