Governor Visits Cranston
Summer Math Program

In the sweltering heat of a July day, you might not expect to find classrooms bustling with activity and the voices of kids at work.

But that’s what you’ll find at Hugh B. Bain Middle School, where two summer learning programs are finding interactive ways to teach students all about math.

Open to elementary and middle-school students citywide, the Math Enrichment and Backstage Pass programs are led by staff from the Cranston branch of the Greater Providence YMCA (GPYMCA), recent Bain graduates who have returned to volunteer and Bain teachers.

Funded through a component of Gov. Dan McKee’s Learn365RI initiative called Math Matters RI, the programs are a collaboration by the governor’s office, the GPYMCA and the City of Cranston.

At Bain, the Backstage Pass program takes students through the whole process of putting together a play. This summer, they are performing “Beauty and the Beast.” The students learn math through practical examples of play production, including making budgets, building sets and measuring for costumes.

The Math Enrichment program has elementary students focus more on structured math through games like having different math formulas on a multi-colored beach ball and getting the kids to solve the formula they land on.

Mayor Kenneth Hopkins says the programs show that kids really can learn all year round, not just during the traditional school year.

Jodiana Lombardi, the youth development director for the programs, said one of her favorite parts about the program is the opportunity it provides students who wouldn’t normally have it.

“In order to get private tutoring, in order to get the extra support, it costs money because people can’t spend $100 every week to do [math] programs … so we take that barrier down,” Lombardi said.

According to Lombardi, more than 100 kids are enrolled in the free, four-week-long programs, which include breakfast and lunch.

Courtney Matarese is a math teacher at Bain who teaches the class on costume measurement. She said math is on an island and needs more integration into curriculum.

“There’s only one period a day that focuses on math, whereas for literacy, they have English class, most of them (students) have reading intervention or a content literacy class,” Matarese said.

She also noted that even in science and social studies, there are reading and writing components.

“I think it’s trying to make math not like this scary, boring thing,” Matarese said. “Not everyone needs to know trigonometry, but there’s a basic level of math that everyone needs to know.”

In another room, the tune “Be Our Guest,” from “Beauty and the Beast,” floats into the hallway as students practice the choreography for their upcoming performance.

Alex Hernandez, who will be playing Mrs. Potts, is an incoming eighth-grade student at Park View Middle School. She said she finds the math program fun and interesting.

“We get to build, we do math … we do choreography,” Hernandez said. “It’s just a whole lot of fun. I wish I could stay a little longer than just one o’clock.”

Karen Santilli, CEO of the GPYMCA, said she believes math is important and these programs offer different ways for kids to experience it.

“The funding from the governor’s office for Learn365 and Math Matters are making this possible,” Santilli said. “We couldn’t do it without that funding.”

Last Wednesday, McKee, Hopkins and Cranston School Committee Chair Domenic Fusco visited the Math Matters programs in Cranston to celebrate National Summer Learning Week.

“I think this visit today was really important to raise awareness of the need for more out-of-school-time programming in our community,” Santilli said afterward.

The students’ production of “Beauty and the Beast” will be performed Friday, Aug. 15, according to Anthony Gibney, executive director of the Cranston YMCA branch. Time and place are to be determined.