Dist. 57 math carnival honors teacher who died unexpectedly

The annual math carnival at Lincoln Middle School in Mount Prospect took on special meaning as a memorial to Grace Majewski, a teacher at the school who died unexpectedly in late April.

"The eighth graders were devastated," said Katie Hewitt, a 7th grade math teacher at the school who helped organize the carnival with another 7th grade math teacher. "She had a huge effect on everybody here."

Majewski, an English as a Second Language teacher at the school who worked with the same students as they advanced from 6th to 8th grade, called in sick on a Monday and died shortly afterward of a heart attack, Hewitt said.

Majewski, a Hoffman Estates resident who was in her 40s, left behind her husband, Todd, and three children, Michelle, Michael and Megan, the youngest a high school freshman.

Lincoln Middle School expanded the carnival this year to include an evening session that parents and members of the community could attend and advertised it throughout the community. The event raised $1,800, which will be used for a memorial at the school to Majewski and for her children's college education, Hewitt said.

Hundreds lined up for the evening event, far outstripping expectations, she said.

"We weren't expecting anything like that," she said. While tickets for carnival games were 25 cents, "people were throwing $20s down," she added.

The math carnival follows a month of teaching kids through games that involve probability. Then students are put into groups and construct their own games.

They calculate the theoretical probability, experimental probability and expected value of the games before holding the carnival for other 7th graders.