By Debra Knight, FIM advocate
SPENCER, OK—In May, I conducted an end-of-year First In Math program award ceremony at Green Pastures Elementary School in the Oklahoma City Pubic School District. Green Pastures is a struggling, inner city school that I communicated a lot with this year as they work diligently to improve their math program.
Among many of the wonderful students I met was first-grader Samuel Marshall. A smart, neat, huggable kid, his enthusiasm is contagious. He rose to the top of his school in the First in Math program, besting several fifth-graders and becoming the only player in the school to achieve FIM GENIUS status by earning more than 4,100 stickers. He was ecstatic when I told him that meant he had solved more than 12,000 math problems!
Posing for a picture with Sam during the award ceremony; Sam with his Award Certificate and a photo of the writing assignment. First-grade misspellings aside, I was absolutely amazed at the vocabulary of this six-year-old.
Samuel’s teacher, Rita Horton, told me that for a recent writing assignment she allowed each student to pick the topic. Sam decided to write about First in Math, and specifically to thank the creator of the program, Robert Sun. I asked Horton if I could get a copy of the assignment.
“First in Math is an adventure for me. It’s a journey for me to explore math. First in math to me is my way of learning my math and for being proud of my achievements and goals of being the first genius in the school. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to live in this country and thank you for making this program and giving us this chance to come to school. And I am happy for this school learning in the year of twenty fourteen. And helping us stay focused on first in math is my Dream.”
As much as this letter touched me, it meant even more to Bob Sun, because he understands better than most the challenges many urban children face. He and I agree wholeheartedly that these students—with the right tools and encouragement—have the courage and persistence it takes to succeed and to quickly get back on their feet after setbacks. As Bob says, “Urban kids have grit by the boatload, and grit will turn these young people into a wellspring of talent in the future.” (Read: Why Inner City Kids Have A Natural Learning Advantage)
School has been out for almost three weeks now, and checking in on the Green Pastures FIM homepage today, Samuel is still actively playing and earning stickers. Kudos to Sam, Horton, Principal Harry Bryant and the entire school for dedicating themselves to academic success!