Four students survived their first encounter with Neumann’s new Math Escape Room at its launch on February 7.

Faced with the challenge of analyzing the possible merger of two companies, Lian Sydorowicz, Tyler Kennedy, Lea Mirabile, and Chloe Ballew successfully solved eight equations and presented a recommendation in 23 minutes and 14 seconds.

Members of the math faculty, faced with the same challenge on February 3, took slightly more than 26 minutes to escape.

“Experiences like this really incorporate things you learn in the classroom into real life,” said Sydorowicz, “and it’s fun to be competitive.”

Mirabile agreed and enjoyed the teamwork. “Collaborating with other students and sharing our knowledge to solve the puzzle was my favorite part of the challenge.”

The room in the Academic Coaching and Tutoring Center presents a group of four students with a real-life scenario in which they have to solve a series of math problems or puzzles to “escape” within 60 minutes. The students work collaboratively and compete with other groups to solve the challenge as quickly as possible.

Cecelia Mick, a graduate assistant with the School of Business, is the project manager for the escape room. She collaborated with Drexel University and the University of South Australia to learn how they created and operate their rooms.

For the spring semester, Mick created two games, both organized around the theme of mergers and acquisitions. She worked with business faculty to edit and polish the games so that they test key skills and concepts.

The escape room will be open to all students in the spring. In the fall, however, the plan is to expand escape room games to other majors and make the games available only to students in specific courses.