Miley

Math-A-Thon students begin a new year of fighting childhood cancer.

Here’s a quick math problem. If 300,000 children each do on average 100 math problems over a period of 30 years, what is the sum of their efforts? Answer: Great strides in the fight against childhood cancer through the St. Jude Math-A-Thon® program.

Since its humble beginnings as a pilot program in 1979 to raise funds for St. Jude, Math-A-Thon has grown into one of the hospital’s most successful fundraising programs. And its strength is not just in fundraising, but in the opportunity the program gives school children to hone their math skills. It’s this dual benefit that has made Math-A-Thon a popular program with teachers all over the country.

“The Math-A-Thon program gets kids excited about math,” said Joan Linares, Math-A-Thon coordinator for Harlem Elementary School in Baytown, Texas. “And I don’t know of another program where kids have the chance to do something for other kids. Plus it reinforces their math skills. That’s why I love it.”

This year, Math-A-Thon will be celebrating 30 years of helping children in the fight against cancer and in helping students conquer math. More than 12,000 schools across the country will give their students that extra chance to learn by participating in the program. To participate, students ask family and friends for pledges to solve math problems. The funds raised by the students benefit St. Jude, where doctors and scientists work to eradicate childhood cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases. St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. At St. Jude, no child is ever denied treatment because of the family’s inability to pay.

Linares was introduced to the Math-A-Thon program through her school’s former principal, Sue Jennings. Jennings had heard about the program and passed the information along to Linares, whose favorite subject is math.
“Math is fun,” the teacher said. “And I love to see the look on a child’s face when they understand the concept I am trying to teach.”

Linares said Math-A-Thon gives students the opportunity to learn valuable skills for later in life. They continue to develop their math skills by solving age-appropriate problems and learn about philanthropy.

“I feel the most important thing is the education,” Linares said. “Not just teaching the subject, but teaching the kids the importance of helping others and to think of others.”

Linares’ time with the program has allowed her to see two generations come through her school and participate in Math-A-Thon. And, she said, the parents who participated in Math-A-Thon as students get just as excited as their children about the program. “They say ‘I did this when I was in school’ and they encourage their children to participate,” Linares said.
Though the basic premise of solving math problems has remained the same, St. Jude has continued to find new ways to encourage students to participate, from updating the funbooks to adding new and exciting spokespeople such as actress Danica McKeller and music artists Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus.

New additions also include the Numerators, superheroes with super math skills. The four heroes—Minus, Symmetry, Octagon and Fraction—use their abilities to help the patients of St. Jude. Students can read grade-level appropriate bios of the Numerators online, and then follow them through adventures in their Math-A-Thon Funbooks. These new additions, Linares said, have helped keep the students enthusiasm for the program high.

New prizes are also available for students this year including MP3 players, tents, digital cameras and sporting goods. Schools can benefits as well. In addition to a variety of prizes coordinators can use for their school, PlayCore, makers of school yard playground equipment, is making a special offer for Math-A-Thon schools. Schools that complete its Math-A-Thon events will have an opportunity to save at least $1,000 on the purchase of either a Play & Park Structures® or GameTime® playground.