On September 12, 2000, longtime PCMI Steering Committee member Cynthia Hays lost a three-year battle with kidney cancer. The loss of our colleague and friend is felt deeply by all at PCMI, leaders and participants alike. Cindy had a remarkable way of standing up for high school teachers and the PCMI experience; she held up the dignity and nobility of her profession by reminding audiences of how the best high school teachers really can bring mathematics to students by understanding both math and teaching.

"I used to view mathematics as a finite set of facts, like a box that would be filled when you were done. My box now has windows that allow me, and through me my students, to see the possibilities and potential of mathematics. Because I don't know the answers doesn't mean my students can't ask the questions."

—Cindy Hays, 1997