Most of the 768 students and around 100 staff members at McKelvie Intermediate School, 108 Liberty Hill Road, were on hand for a group photo on Friday, March 29. The photo resulted from a good idea that snowballed into a math project.

It was the yearbook club at the school that generated the idea for the photo, an image to be included in the next edition. Then, an advanced math group, comprised of students under the tutelage of Ms. Karen Maitland, became involved and refined the plan.

Yearbook advisor Aaron Jacobs said the club searched for ideas that would enhance the publication and provide a visual element that was a little different than that provided by traditional photos.

“We kicked around a number of ideas,” said Jacobs. “Then, the idea came up to take a photo that would have everyone in the school in it.”

The goal to use an outline of the school’s initials, M-C-K, and have the students fill in the letters by standing inside the letters’ perimeters, led to idea-sharing sessions with other groups in the school.

Ultimately, Karen Maitland, teacher of Math EXCEL, an advanced math class, took up the challenge and consulted with her students.

Advanced math

The math students formed teams. The teams came up with various proposals. The plans touched upon measurement, research, proportions and spacial considerations. The students sought to determine the needed size of the three letters. They grappled with some questions about laying out perimeters and the volume of an area.

Questions abounded. Are fifth graders much smaller than sixth graders? How many students can fit inside the boundaries of an M as opposed to a C and a K? Shall we consider that a certain percentage of students may be absent on the day of the photo shoot? How shall we allot space for students who might be in wheelchairs?

Michael Fournier, the school’s principal, said he received several proposals and selected the chosen plan. He credited the efforts of all the students and the teachers who helped an idea become a reality on the morning of the photo shoot.

“The excitement was palpable,” Fournier said after the photo was taken. “It was so neat to see the kids so excited. This is a wonderful staff. They just pull together and make things happen.”

The image was captured from the top of the school. The school’s population of fifth- and sixth-graders, smiling and cheering and waving, looked up at photographer Brian C. Hockmeyer, head of Hockmeyer Studios in Amesbury, Mass.

The firm, family-owned and operated for 25 years, is reputed to be New England’s premier school photographer.

Teachers and other staffers filled in along the edges of the letters.

Alongside Hockmeyer stood Fournier, who with the help of a bullhorn was able to direct the group below him to line up precisely within the boundaries of three letters of the alphabet – M, C, and K.

School colors

A sea of yellow and blue – the school’s colors – could be seen from his vantage point. Students in sunflower-colored T-shirts and navy-blue polo shirts blended in with some wearing shades of turquoise and canary yellow and cornflower blue and pastel yellow. The apparel was chosen to show school pride.

Then, the countdown began. On cue, everyone waved and cheered. The photographer clicked away on his camera. Visiting officers from the Bedford Police Department watched from the periphery.

And the stars of the show finished the task by yelling out a loud, shared sentiment: “Thank you, Mrs. Maitland.”