Mathletes know: Math is Cool
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 5 years, 8 months AGO
DEVIN WEEKS/Press Coeur d’Alene High School sophomore and Growing the STEM nonprofit co-founder Lilian Smith, 16, answers a question asked by Fernan STEM Academy fifth-grader Lukas Ruchti (in the white shirt) during a Math is Cool team practice after school Thursday.
By DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer
Sisters Lilian and Adeline Smith love math, and they want other kids to love math, too.
That's why in 2017 they founded Growing the STEM, a nonprofit that focuses on youth development, equality, hard work, confidence and, most importantly, fun.
"I love it. It helps me feel like I’m creating an impact on the world, and I love talking to other people," Lilian said Thursday afternoon. "I love being able to teach people."
Lilian, a sophomore at Coeur d'Alene High School, and Adeline, a Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy sixth-grader, have jumped into promoting two math programs that encourage students to exercise their math skills while fostering a love of the subject.
Math is Cool is a competitive, team-based after-school math program for students who excel at math. Students spend time playing math games, solving problems and learning new math skills. The sessions are adult-supervised and held at local schools including Bryan Elementary, Fernan STEM Academy, Lakes Magnet Middle School and Sorensen Magnet School. Positions are currently open for middle and high school students who want to serve as student coaches for fourth- and fifth-graders or sixth- through eighth-graders.
"I think when you’re good at math, then you’re really competitive with math, and so the Math is Cool program works well for you, because you like that kind of competition and your skills support you to be able to have a venue to be able to do that,” said Sorensen fourth-grade teacher Shanna Marshall, who serves as the education chair of the Growing the STEM board.
"A football player wants a game, right? So for Math is Cool kids who have more of a strength for the most part, and a competitive nature, it’s their big game," she said. "They get to have a way to compete academically, so that’s really special."
Mathletes is a peer-to-peer tutoring program where older elementary school kids have the opportunity to mentor younger students who can look up to them and learn from someone who was in their shoes not too long ago. The program is recruiting elementary students interested in volunteering their time to help others.
"Older students do applications to apply to work with younger students and mentor them on their math skills,” Marshall said. "This isn’t necessarily for just the advanced learners; a fifth-grader who might struggle just a touch with math might still be a fantastic mentor for a second-grader, so it’s a way to build math skills in both the mentors and the mentees.”
Lilian, 16, really enjoys helping run an education-based nonprofit, almost as much as she loves helping others improve their math skills.
"I think that anywhere in the world you need to have math, because you never know everything,” she said. “The things that we take away from it are the critical thinking and the progressive knowledge that you need."
Growing the STEM Trivia Night will be held Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Taphouse Unchained, 210 Sherman Ave., Coeur d'Alene. Proceeds will help fund these afterschool math clubs. Tickets are $20 each, and the event is designed for adults.
The Fernan, Sorensen and Bryan Math is Cool teams will be joining other local teams and facing off against other Northwest students in the Math Masters competition today in Moses Lake.
