Nearly 200 students expected to attend Texas State's Mathworks camps

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
June 7, 2013

Beginning June 10, close to 200 young students will pack the classrooms of Miller Middle School in San Marcos and move toy cars, hop frogs along a number line and play with mathematics as part of the 18th annual Mathworks Junior Summer Math Camp sponsored by Texas State University.

Through those activities, the students will build foundational skills related to negative and positive integers, fractions, graphing and advanced problem solving. The 2013 JSMC will be held June 10-21, Mondays through Fridays, with classes running 8 a.m. to noon.

Mathworks, a center at Texas State, has partnered with the San Marcos school district to provide bus transportation for district students. In addition, all camp students will be provided breakfast, a snack and lunch. Parents are invited to attend a "Parent Open House" the morning of Wednesday, June 19, and learn more about the math concepts their students are learning during the two weeks.

Mathworks strives to engage students of all socioeconomic backgrounds, and this summer close to 50 percent of students will be attending the program on a scholarship. The impact of Mathworks' summer math program is reinforced year after year as students are able to attend for five consecutive summers, learning new concepts as they move through the levels of the camp. Students take what they've learned in the summer and enter the school year with increased self-confidence and abilities.

By providing high quality math programs in June, Mathworks plays an integral part in addressing the challenge of disparity in summer learning opportunities. A 2010 Wallace Foundation report said, "More than half of the achievement gap present in ninth grade between lower and higher income youth can be explained by summer learning loss that disproportionately affects low-income children. It is a significant part of the reason that low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college."

The vision of serving students of all backgrounds is also a key reason behind the Mathworks Legacy Campaign, which has a $6 million dollar endowment goal. Having an endowment would enable Mathworks to serve all students for the foreseeable future and not deny any child the opportunity to maximize their potential.

Held in conjunction with the day camp at Miller Middle School is a residential JSMC for 40 6th-8th grade students, who will live on the Texas State campus. New for this summer will be a 50-student day camp in north Austin, held at the university's Round Rock campus.

For more information about any Mathworks program, please call (512) 245-3439 or e-mail mathworks@txstate.edu.