Men’s basketball to host 5th annual ‘School House Mania’

MEDIA ADVISORY

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Rice men’s basketball to host 4,200 grade-schoolers for 5th annual ‘School House Mania’

HOUSTON – (Dec. 12, 2017) – Rice University’s Athletics Department will host more than 4,200 local elementary schoolchildren for its fifth annual “School House Mania” when the Owls men’s basketball team tips off against St. Edward’s University at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 14 at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Prior to the game, the Rice University School Mathematics Project (RUSMP) will provide students opportunities to participate in math and science activities from 10 to 11 a.m. The students will then have lunch, which will be provided by Food for Good.

“School House Mania” brings local elementary students to Rice’s campus for an educational field trip along with the fun of watching a college basketball game. The event promotes education and challenges students to learn in a fun way.

Who:  Over 4,200 schoolchildren from the Houston area.

What: “School House Mania” will feature a men’s basketball game between Rice University and St. Edward’s University, a pregame presentation by the Rice University School Mathematics Project and lunch for students.

The pregame math and science program will include:

• A “Welcome to Rice” slideshow, which includes math facts to introduce students to the campus.
• A “Sammy Says” activity in which students use their bodies, hands and fingers to answer math questions in a “Simon says” format.
• A “What’s My Number?” activity in which students will be given clues to determine the jersey number of Rice basketball team members.
• A “Transformation Shuffle” dance, which introduces students to geometric transformations.
• A “Tour of Houston” slideshow that incorporates math and science.

When: Thursday, Dec. 14. Pregame event from 10 to 11 a.m., student lunch and the basketball game at 11:30.

Where: Rice University, Tudor Fieldhouse, 6100 Main St.

RUSMP has been promoting Rice beyond the hedges in pre-K-12 education by providing support to precollege institutions across the state since 1987. It offers numerous programs for leaders, teachers and students to support schools and school districts. This is RUSMP’s fourth year to collaborate with Rice’s Athletics Department on “School House Mania,” which brings STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — education from Rice University to Houston-area students.

Members of the news media who want to attend “School House Mania” should RSVP to David Ruth, director of national media relations at Rice, at david@rice.edu or 713-348-6327.

Representatives from the Rice Athletics Department and the Rice University School Mathematics Project will be available for interviews during the event.

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Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,879 undergraduates and 2,861 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for happiest students by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.