Springfield philanthropist Rosalyn Bullock has made a donation to Wittenberg to start the Bullock Math Academy. The academy will train gifted junior high students how to use math in everyday life.
Linda Hallinan is a former mechanical engineer who is now a math whiz and teacher. She was thrilled to learn that Wittenberg received a gift from Bullock to start the Math Academy.
Hallinan says that math is more than timed tests and sheer memorization, and as the director of the academy, she plans to get students excited about it.
"Most students have math worksheets thrown in front of them, or a teacher up in front of the classroom lecturing them of math principles. But what we are trying to show them is how important math is in everyday life and how they can use math to understand everyday life," Hallinan said. " It is a lot of hands on project based where they get to build something using their math skills and it's more of a discovery based learning if you will."
The academy will be held after school and in the summer. It's open to students who will be entering the 7th and 8th grades. Hallinan says students that stay in the program through high school will earn a nice financial reward.
"The intention is for students to stay in with the academy every year continue with the summer camp and the after school program and then when they graduate from high school they receive a $10,000 scholarship to Wittenberg and they can pick their major or if they choose that Wittenberg is not the place for them they get a $5,000 scholarship to the college of their choice," Hallinan said.
Hallinan says Rosalyn Bullock made the donation to start the academy because Bullock's late husband loved math and her attorney Daniel Harkins also encouraged the idea.
The Bullock Math Academy is open to Clark County students and will welcome its first class this summer. Students accepted will attend for free. The deadline to apply for admission is March 1st.