Volume 8, Number 1
October 26, 1997
 
 
S.M.A.A.C. Begins Another Great Year!
by Dan Bates

The 1997 edition of the Wooster Student Mathematical Association of America Chapter (SMAAC) has elected its new officers for the year!  They are: 
 

  •  President:  Michele Hayward ('98)
  •  Vice President:  John Meisel ('01)
  •  Treasurer:  Katie Ziegler ('98)
  •  Secretary:  Dan Bates ('01)
  •  Infinity Editor:  Ryan Johnston ('99)
 This year, SMAAC is planning a variety of events.  These include a T-shirt fund-raiser, the tromping of the Physics Dept. in the annual "Taylor Bowl" bowling war, and a holiday dinner in December.  The highlight of the year should be the annual Wooster Invitational Math Contest in which SMAAC invites several area high school math teams to come to Wooster and compete in individual and team contests.  Also, the club plans to invite several speakers to Wooster and to hold a number of social gatherings.  If you would like to get involved in SMAAC, call Michele at x3254 or Dan at x3236!  Everyone is welcome! 
 
Going to "ALBA" 
by Michele Hayward

I encourage spending a semester abroad to anyone!  Spending a semester 
 

  in Alba (Gaelic for Scotland) was the best experience of my life.  While studying at the University of Aberdeen during the fall of 1996, I was not enrolled in any mathematics courses.  Because I didn't take any math courses, I realized that I missed math and that I really had made the right decision to become a math major.  Coming from a small campus such as Wooster, this experience has also helped me to expand my world view. 
        Every weekend, I traveled somewhere around Scotland or England.  I was fortunate enough to meet someone who was old enough to "hire" a car (you have to be 25), so I went on several "rent-a-car" weekends with my European friends.  We visited places such as Loch Ness, Isle of Skye, Loch Awe, Gencoe, West Highland Way, Glenfiddich whisky Distillery, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and over 15 breathtaking, mysterious, and beautiful castles.  It was such a wonderful feeling to travel through so much unspoiled beauty.  On my travels to England, I stayed in London for an extended weekend, then traveled outside of London to see Stonehenge, Warwick Castle, Avebury, and the White Horse carved into the chalky ground of Cherhill. 
        The University of Aberdeen itself is just over 500 years old and it is located in the "Auld Toon" of Aberdeen, Old Aberdeen.  Some of the buildings and the layout of the streets remain as they were in the medieval period.  Just walking down those cobblestone streets sent me back in time.  Although there are many places