Students can receive academic help at Math Academy, held weekly on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday in Room 432 after school from 2:30 to 4:30.
“[Math Academy is] an after-school program funded by EdUCate to help improve math grades at both UC High and Standley [Middle School],” said Geometry Teacher Bernard Steinberger. EdUCate is a nonprofit organization that aims to “provide supplemental funds to all five University City public schools” (uc-educate.org).
Free and open to students of all grades, Math Academy is a new program that began in October, according to Steinberger. During the Math Academy sessions, teachers and peer tutors help students, who do homework or work on Khan Academy. Khan Academy is a nonprofit organization that provides online educational videos and other resources through its website (khanacademy.org).
According to Special Education Teacher Austin Mason, students work mainly on math subjects. “It’s more math focused, but we have kids that come in for other subjects too,” he said.
According to Steinberger, parents from the community who were looking to help the schools organized Math Academy. He explained that parents from the EdUCate foundation created Math Academy, which was “piloted last year at Standley for six weeks and was very successful.” Steinberger and Mason are in charge of the Math Academy at UC High.
UC High students help other students during Math Academy at both UC High and Standley. Senior Steven Yang helps students at the UC High Math Academy. “I’m a senior, so I get to oversee their work because I’ve been in these classes before, so I know the teachers and the work,” he said. “I’m here [at Math Academy] to answer any questions,” he added.
“About 15 students regularly come in, and five to ten others show up as needed,” said Steinberger. “We’re hoping to grow it [Math Academy],” said Mason. “We want to have a math, English, and science section ultimately – that’s the goal.” Through Math Academy, Steinberger said he hopes to help as many students as possible raise their grades and start to enjoy math.
“You come and do your homework. If you need any help, they [teachers or peer tutors] will explain it to you. If you don’t understand, they’ll explain it to you again, so it really helps,” said Freshman Kailey Withers.
“I think it’s great. It gives students an extra chance to get help on homework,” said Mason.