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While many middle-schoolers were taking their last trips to the beach or amusement parks, 40 students from the Hollister Elementary School District were getting prepared for eighth grade math. From July 29 to Aug. 2, they took part in The Bruce W. Woolpert Algebra Academy, an intensive five-day algebra enrichment program that exposes students to the practical uses of math in the fields of agricultural science, engineering, construction and aeronautics.
The program, now in its 15th year, hosted 95 incoming eighth graders from Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties. The academy’s San Benito students participated at Driscoll’s Cassin Ranch.
The academy is the brainchild of the late Graniterock Chief Executive Officer, Bruce W. Woolpert, who “wanted to create a program that really helped lift up the students of the Pajaro Valley,” said Shanna Crigger, Graniterock’s director of communications.
“This is not a program for those struggling with math,” she said. “This is for kids who are doing well in math and in their school setting.”
“Math was his passion,” she said of Woolpert. “He wanted to share that passion and spread his love of math with the students of Pajaro Valley, and create an enrichment program to show them career opportunities.”
That passion project began in 2010 at Graniterock with about 40 Watsonville middle school students. It’s since expanded to include Monterey and San Benito County students. It also added Driscoll’s as a partner and the Driscoll’s Cassin Ranch in Watsonville as an academy host campus. This year, the Santa Cruz-based electric air taxi company Joby Aviation became a partner and hosted academy students at its UC Santa Cruz Monterey Bay Education, Science and Technology Center in Marina.
Kellie Rodden, a Marguerite Maze Middle School eighth grade math teacher and an Algebra Academy site coordinator said the Hollister students “were selected by their seventh grade math teachers as some of the highest achieving students in their grade level from each of the five schools that are represented.”
The five Hollister district schools represented were Accelerated Achievement Academy, Calaveras Elementary School, Hollister Dual Language Academy, Marguerite Maze Middle School, and Rancho San Justo Middle School.
Rodden said students were taught by professors from CSU Monterey Bay, had a teacher’s aide or mentor for every four students, and had professionals from Driscoll’s, Graniterock, and Joby speak on their work experiences and how they put math to practical uses in their fields.
One job stood out to incoming eighth grader Lilyanna Gomez. After hearing a speaker discuss their work as a chemist, she said it seemed “really intriguing.”
“That seems like something that I would want to do,” Gomez said.
She said she also enjoyed exploring the Driscoll Cassin Ranch, which also gave her insight into the field of chemistry.
“We got to go to one of their labs and do smell tests and everything,” she said. “We tried to figure out what things smelled like and what chemicals to mix to make the aroma of certain berries.”
Algebra Academy Executive Director Christy Sessions told BenitoLink that inspiring students to look at job fields offered at these local facilities is part of the academy’s mission.
“The fact that we get to highlight these three industries locally, has just been overwhelming for me,” she said, “because I get so excited and I feel so proud that we can show these kids, ‘Yeah, go to college, but then look at all the opportunities that are here for you. You don’t have to go and move away from your home. You can get a great, well-paying job here.’”
Following their “immersion week,” Rodden said, the program will continue for the remainder of their eighth grade year when academy students will have two field trips to either the Driscoll’s, Graniterock or facilities that participate in the Algebra Academy. As high school juniors and seniors they will also have the opportunity to come back and be mentors.
Rodden said students who attend the academy can apply for scholarships if they attend CSUMB as a math major.
But first, they will be concentrating on their upcoming school year. Gomez said the week gave her a headstart on what she will be learning in math this year.
“It most definitely helped me a lot because some of the stuff that I was supposed to learn last year, I haven’t learned yet,” she said. “So it kind of boosted me up. I’m really ready for eighth grade math.”
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