Math awards continue to multiply at Holy Family
William Thurston, noted professor of mathematics and computer science at Cornell University contends, "Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations or algorithms: it is about understanding."
As the first middle school in Illinois to become STEM certified, Holy Family Catholic Academy (Inverness) agrees with Professor Thurston, and is committed to building math literacy in its more than 500 students from preschool through grade eight.
"We develop math literacy by moving from memorizing and calculating to understanding and thinking like a mathematician," said Principal Kate O'Brien.
Math literacy includes reading and writing skills - not only writing down the steps of a problem, but learning how to critically read math problems and using words to describe a problem-solving process.
The academy's math curriculum is complemented by its instructional framework that focuses on differentiated learning and collaboration. This approach was validated by Cognia, a global not-for-profit educational accreditation and certification organization (formerly known as AdvancED) during Holy Family Catholic Academy's STEM accreditation.
The report stated, "Holy Family Catholic Academy's method of math placement is a wonderful example of how learners are grouped by ability, not age or grade level. The school provides multiple levels of math for middle school learners, which range from pre-algebra support to honors geometry."
Recently, Holy Family Catholic Academy's middle school students participated in a math competition at Regina Dominican High School. The competition included team and individual portions that focused on problem-solving, algebra and geometry.
"Regina, an all girls high school, requested that girls make up at least 40% of our team members. While often girls are underrepresented in math, 60% of our Holy Family Catholic Academy math team was girls," said math teacher Christina Calgano.
Likewise, the teams included diversity in age, with sixth- and seventh-graders named team captains. Sixth-grader Brendan Kellar's team won second place overall.
"At first I was a little nervous being the team captain, but at Holy Family Catholic Academy, we work in teams a lot and everyone learns leadership skills," Brendan said.
Ruby Arun, seventh grade, won first place in the individual category.
"I liked the team portion of the competition the best. We collaborate during our classes and all work well together. It was a great feeling to be respected by kids that are older than me," said Ruby.
Mary Stenson, Regina Dominican math teacher, congratulated the Holy Family Catholic Academy team.
"Holy Family Catholic Academy's teams were very talented and competitive. We were thrilled to host them," she said.
Kate McCully, Holy Family Catholic Academy math teacher, shared that more competitions are scheduled.
"Building math literacy translates into building problem-solving confidence. Our goal is to prepare competent and confident students for high school and beyond, and being part of a larger community of math students helps us reach that goal."
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