Magdhi Hill, Kaeden LaFrance, Dalton Houde and Alperen Sirin, all juniors from Syracuse Academy of Science Charter School, visited the Florida State University Department of Mathematics, to study on topology as a part of FSU Topology Week events. The program, supervised by graduate student Mehmet Aktas, aimed to develop students' mathematical thinking by exploring topological concepts. Students attended 30 hours of lectures and participated in group problem sessions during the program.

Students studied topological invariants, homeomorphisms and topological structures like the Mobius band, Klein bottle and the torus. Forming two groups, they created two different projects: Analysis of the Euler Characteristic in Determining the Number of Polygons on a Soccer Ball and the Mobius Band and it's Properties as a Non-orientable One Sided Object. They presented their projects to an audience of professors and graduate students as part of the FSU Topology Week in February 2013.

Later this spring, Kaeden LaFrance and Alperen Sirin participated in mathematics competitions at the Central New York Science and Engineering Fair and received the Yale Science and Engineering Association Inc. Award, and the Mu Alpha Theta Award.