SOLEDAD — Twenty Soledad High School math students gave up hours and hours of spring break time to stay indoors and participate in the first-ever Math Academy at the school. The program was modeled after the very popular Hartnell Math Academy at Hartnell Jr. College in Salinas.
“I’ve helped at the Hartnell Math Academy for six years,” said Soledad High Consultant and Hartnell Math Instructor Brian Palmer. “All of the students that participated in the Soledad Math Academy attended from April 17 to April 21, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. We based the material we covered on what first-year math students would be studying here at Soledad High. We would start the mornings with some ice breakers and then as we went along we would introduce new content. In the afternoons it was important to begin with some high energy activities to get everyone involved and ready to go.”
Assisting Palmer with the academy was Soledad High math instructor Carlos Rodriguez; Soledad High math instructor Mathias Mulengwa; and Soledad Main Street Middle School teacher Jesus Fernando.
After a day on introduction, ice breakers and computer time the students went to work on the second day solving linear equations, breaking down least common denominators, and plenty of individual and group math problems.
By the third day the math students were playing games like Algebra Jeopardy, having tower building competitions and playing math pong. Instruction time expanded into clearing denominators, exponent laws, and reviewing previous topics.
On the final day of the academy, students continued with math games, learning new math concepts and finished the day with challenges to win prizes such as Fit watches, cell phone chargers and Starbucks gift cards.
Students who attended the academy were: Adriene Cortez, Julissa Hernandez, Paloma Villanueva, Estefania Montiel, Nicolas Morales, Pahola Villanueva, Leslie Mata, Audrie Sainz, Crystal Moreno, Kathrine Amador, Brando Christian Cortez, Sarey Guapo, Gabriella Villanueva, Ricardo Gonzalez, Cristian Tinajero, Brayan Vaca, Giovani Raygoza.
