Piscopia Piforum Spirograph Workshop

I'll admit that I initially did the workshop for my lovely little sister, Rosie, who was organising the whole thing. Let's be honest, a night coach from Newcastle to Birmingham next to a broken toilet isn't anyone's idea of fun, but I did it, because she's my sister, and I love her. So, I was prepared to just grit my teeth and get through the whole thing because that's what families DO.

However, the moment I stepped into PiForum, I was overwhelmed with the support and welcoming atmosphere of these young women and people, all of whom REALLY liked numbers! My knowledge of maths is limited to trochoids (aka, spirographs - who'd have thought?!) but the amount of different areas of maths that I learned about was incredible. Did you know that there's maths that covers infinites?! 

Being around these passionate people who were all so much smarter than me, I was indimidated, but they were all so lovely and welcoming and really took the time to talk to me about what they were working on. I didn't understand half of it, but it was fascinating nontheless! The only time I felt sad was when I looked at notice boards around the uni and saw that most of the top tier students, those doing really high level maths and were therefore in charge of everything, were all white men. I'm sure they're lovely, and what they're doing is great - but it did stand out to me that there were no women in the pictures up with them. That's what makes Piscopia so amazing though - they're working on it, and I hope next time I go back I'll see more diversity!

Back to the workshop! The mindful spirograph session was right at the end of the day, so everyone was a bit tired from listening to lots of talks. That being said, it was a perfect way to wind down and chill out after a lot of big brain work. 

I made some great friends and saw some really happy faces with their spirograph canvases! Well done everyone, and thank you so much for supporting Piscopia and women/non binary people in maths!