Over 350 parents, students, school district and state representatives, and guests attended Project TIME’s Third Annual Parent/Student Math Advisory Night at Green River Community College on Monday, February 9th.

The evening began with middle and high school students participating in COMPASS assessment in the Technology Building, and moved to the Lindbloom Student Center for opening remarks from Green River's Executive Vice President, April Jensen. April congratulated the students on taking the COMPASS test. She said, "I know its not fun." She also said, "The best thing you can do in life is to get an education. My dad used to tell me that an education is like a permanent backpack that no one can ever take away from you."

Laura Moore Mueller, the Director of Project TIME discussed the significance of the COMPASS test and the importance of continuing on in math through your senior year in high school. To back this argument Dylan Helliwell, Assistant Professor of Math at Seattle University stated that many majors require math beyond algebra. He said you may think you don't need math because you are going to be a great writer some day and then come to find out later that you want to to be a chemist or an engineer because your teacher or roommate inspired you. Then you find your requirements for math change drastically. He said, "Your requirement to get into college is algebra. However, your requirements to get out could be a lot more... If you choose the easy path you are closing a lot of doors."

Aaron DeSelms, a current GRCC student, could attest to that. He spoke directly to the middle and high school students when he shared his experience about math. He said," In 7th and 8th grade I took pre-algebra, but I really didn't care. In 9th grade I took the same Algebra class. I then got mixed up with the wrong crowd and got kicked out of school. Two years later I went back to college and when I took the COMPASS, I bombed it and had to start in pre-algebra again! It took me three quarters and a lot of money to get back up to college level math. Now I want to be a doctor so I have to go up to calculus 3. I learned the hard way."

The evening concluded with the keynote by Dr. Ruth Parker, co-founder and CEO of the Mathematics Education Collaborative. She has worked with teachers and parents across the country to improve mathematics teaching and student learning. She presented a math problem to the audience. There were many different answers offered to the same problem. She did not give the answer and asked that the students bring the math experiment to their math teachers. The classroom of students will perform the experiment, collect the data and then send the data to the Project TIME website. She talked about the importance of welcoming math in your home and how there are many games that involve math.

Project TIME wishes to thank the Kent Rotary for providing funding for the event, Texas instruments and Sylvan Learning  for generously donating the many door prizes that were given out throughout the evening, Partnership for Learning, GRCC Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Transitions Mathematics Project.

After the event, one of the parents commented, "My daughter had a great time and is really pumped about math. She even said she wanted to major in math/science. WOW!"

** Project TIME is a partnership among Green River Community College, K-12 school districts, and 4-year universities which examines issues around transitions in mathematics, from one skill level to another. Funded in 2006, Project TIME is funded by the Transition Math Project, a statewide initiative funded by the Washington State Legislature, and a $3.6 million dollar grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For more information, please contact Laura Moore-Mueller at extension 4444.