ND Eighth Graders Use Math To Build Gingerbread Houses

Proceeds from auction benefit Pontiac-area needy

Proceeds from the auction of the gingerbread houses exceeded $1,200, all of which will be donated to a Pontiac-area charity organization.

Gingerbread houses built by an eighth-grade math class at Notre Dame were auctioned to other middle-school students today to raise money for needy children in the community. Math teacher Cindy Brown and her Honors Geometry class constructed the buildings after making accurate scale drawings that marked congruencies, perpendicular lines and bisectors, and other geometric properties. It is becoming an annual event for her class before the holidays.

The gingerbread structures were created using geometric principles taught in Notre Dame Marist Academy teacher Cindy Brown’s Honors Geometry class

The houses were auctioned off to the highest bidders with the proceeds going to help provide a Christmas for needy families in the Pontiac area identified through the Catholic Community Response Team.

"At the close of bidding today, we raised $1,277," Brown said. "That more than doubled last year's total. God never ceases to amaze me."

Follow Notre Dame at @NDPMA.

About the Catholic Community Response Team
The Catholic Community Response Team was founded in 2004 by the Pontiac Area Vicariate to provide direct referral and support services to those with crisis needs. They also work to build a permanent bridge between two populations who live in close proximity, but whose life experiences are worlds apart: those in crisis with urgent, unmet needs (primarily in the Pontiac area), and volunteers wanting to live out their faith through the works of charity and justice.

About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy

Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.