In summer 2006, the WSU Math Corps expanded its summer camp to include a complete second site on the Wayne State University campus. The Toyota USA Foundation funded this second site, located and operated separately from the original, in its entirety.
A photograph from the presentation of the Toyota USA Foundation check to the WSU Math Corps appears to the right, showing (left to right): Steven Kahn, Math Corps executive director; Dean Robert Thomas, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; George Hill, Math Corps supporter and president of Diversified Chemicals, Inc. of Detroit; and Bruce Brownlee, senior executive administrator for External Affairs for Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing, North America, Inc.
Because of the expansion, a total of 190 additional students, 40 students each in seventh through ninth grades and 70 high school students (who served as paid teaching assistants), were able to participate in last summer's camp, along with 25 college students who served as instructors and mentors. With an equal number of students being served at the original site, the expansion brought the total number served by the 2006 Math Corps Summer Camp to 380 students.
Site II, the site made possible by Toyota USA Foundation support, operated in the same fashion as Site I. The standard governing philosophy and principles of the Math Corps, firmly entrenched at Site I, were put into place at Site II and the curriculum, pedagogy and activities were the same for both sites as well.
At both sites, the middle school students received a variety of instruction from high school students, college students, K-12 teachers and university faculty. The mathematics covered included both the fundamentals of arithmetic and algebra as well as explorations of advanced topics such as infinite series and fractals. Students were able to apply their mathematical understandings in hands-on afternoon activities that included computer work, experiments in probability, conducting statistical surveys and art. In a new initiative designed to elevate the reading and writing skills of its students, even within a mathematics program, the camp offered a creative writing course organized by faculty and students from Wayne State’s Department of English.
The high school students spent the first part of every day devoted to working with the middle school kids. Beyond serving as tutors and teaching assistants, they acted as “big brothers” and “big sisters” for children who, for the most part, were coming from single or no-parent households. As always, the resulting relationships were just as powerful and meaningful for the older kids as for the younger ones. In the afternoons, the high school students attended classes of their own, one of which covered college-level topics in advanced mathematics. They would complete each day writing journal entries that described their thoughts about the program in general and about “their kids” in particular.
As has always been the case in the Math Corps, a strong sense of family, built on the relationships developed between and among the middle school kids, high school kids, college students and senior staff, permeated Site II and the Math Corps’ unique and very powerful culture took root quickly. The students were immersed, on a daily basis, in an environment that promoted the values of academic achievement and hard work as well as compassion, kindness and integrity.
The goals of the Summer Camp expansion were two-fold. First, was to reach a greater number of Detroit’s children to provide them with the kinds of educational opportunities that they would otherwise never have. Second, was to demonstrate the exportability of the Math Corps as a program that could be duplicated at other universities and in other cities beyond Detroit. In both respects, the expansion to Site II was an outstanding success. Both academically and non-academically, Site II achieved results that were as dramatic and impressive as the results attained at Site I this year and historically for more than 13 years. As an example, the seventh graders at Site II entered the program with a 23 percent median on the pre-test, but completed the program six weeks later with a 95 percent median on the post-test. In a post-camp questionnaire, 100 percent of Site II students graded the program with an “A” or “B.”
At the Closing Ceremonies, attended by Bruce Brownlee from Toyota, students from the various teams made mathematical presentations to their parents and relatives, the accomplishments of all of our kids were recognized, and everyone celebrated a true sense of family. In conversations with the Math Corps leaders during the course of this event, Mr. Brownlee indicated that he viewed the Math Corps as a program that surely merited continued support by the Toyota USA Foundation.
TEST: this is a link to a movie.
