New math teacher Robert Otto brought the idea of unicycling from Minneapolis Southwest to help motivate students to work harder in math. Each teacher is to learn how to ride a unicycle by the end of the school year.

Otto said the purpose of unicycling is for students to be motivated to try new things and never give up.

“Their whole idea is that learning is hard, the more time you put in, the easier it becomes,” Otto said. “We’re doing the same thing with the unicycles.”

According to Otto, math department teachers use their free time to practice unicycling.

“We’re allowed to do five minutes a day,” Otto said.  “We’re supposed to do it everyday. We do it during our prep hours or before school.”

Science teacher Peter Dangerfield said he thinks the math department participating in the unicycle challenge provides motivation for students.

“I think (the unicycle challenge) is awesome,” Dangerfield said. “I like unique ideas when it comes to trying to encourage kids to be willing to try.”

Dangerfield said the unicycling connects the teachers with the student body.

“(Unicycling) almost humanizes the math department,” Dangerfield said. “Teachers are viewed as infallible, but that’s not true, we make mistakes all the time — we’re constantly learning.”