By Erica Voolich

Many teachers have great ideas on how to make their classrooms a better place for their students to learn math. The teachers’ ideas frequently outrun the budget schools have for supplies and their own ability to subsidize their classroom. The Somerville Mathematics Fund tries to fill this need through the generosity of their donors with grants up to $500.

Individual grants were funded by Jeremy Gale, Will Kuhlman, Jasper Lawson PhD Associates, Mr. and Mrs. Donald McGoldrick, and Winter Hill Bank. The Morris S. and Florence Bender Foundation funded a number of grants. The rest of the grants were funded thanks to the combined generosity of everyone who contributed to the Somerville Math Fund’s annual fundraiser. The following teachers won grants to encourage and support mathematics achievement in the classrooms of Somerville.

The following teachers won grants to encourage and support mathematics achievement in the classrooms of Somerville.

The Math Fund wants to thank the Morris S. and Florence Bender Foundation for generously underwriting the following teacher grants:

• Karen Kolman, Healey School; Jenna DiNovis, East Somerville Community School; Charlotte Ross, Argenziano School; (District Math Interventionists), Math Intervention Materials across grade levels.
• Katie Starbuck, (Math Coach), Healey School and East Somerville Community School, Math Materials.
• Ava Strezynski, (K), Argenziano School, Math Manipulatives.
• Julie Jones and Lauren McGlashing, Capuano School (K), Math Night for Capuano School.
• Olivia Johnson, (6th Math) East Somerville Community School, Wipebook Flipcharts.
• Cesar Urrunaga, (7th Math), East Somerville Community School, Scientific Calculators.
• Katherine Adelaide Downs, Healey School (pre-K), Manipulatives and Materials for Number Sense Materials.
• Julie Gallardo, Healey School (3rd SEI-1), Math Workshop and Intervention Materials.
• Ben Garton, Healey School (4th), Chess Sets.
• Roxane Scrima, (K), Kennedy School, Maker Bundle ChompSaw.

Jeremy Gale:

• Johanna Cooney, Brown School, (1st), STEM Materials and Bins.

William Kuhlman:

• Swetha Kalluri, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (Math Interventionist, 1-8), Math Recovery Number Sense.

Jasper Lawson, PhD & Associates

• Laura Peters, Somerville High School (STEAM and Robotics), Love to Code Chibi Chips.

Mr. and Mrs. Donald McGoldrick:

• Eleanore MacLean, (3rd), Winter Hill Community Innovation School, Math Manipulatives and Materials.

Winter Hill Bank:

• Andrea Palmer, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (K-8 Math Coach), Math Game Centers.

The following teachers’ grants were supported by the generous donors who contributed to our annual fundraiser.

• Alyssa Mackey, (8th Math and Middle School Instructional Coach), West Somerville Neighborhood School, Wipebooks and calculators.
• April Luna, (6th Math and Science), Winter Hill Community Innovation School, Wipebooks Flipcharts.
• Maureen Mitchell, (3-6 Special Ed Resource Room), Winter Hill Community Innovation School, Math Manipulatives
• Melissa Moore, (7th and 8th Science), Winter Hill Community Innovation School, Math Manipulatives and Calculators
• Julie Scafidi, (7th and 8th Math), Winter Hill Community Innovation School, Wipebooks and Calculators

The Somerville Mathematics Fund was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage achievement in mathematics in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts. Over twenty-four years, the Somerville Math Fund has awarded $162,158 in teacher grants supporting four hundred ten teachers’ projects in the city of Somerville along with emergency grants to East Somerville teachers after the devastating school fire.

On March 27, the fund will be seeking applications from students who reside in Somerville for college mathematics scholarships. Over twenty-three years, the Somerville Math Fund has awarded a total of $709,000 in four-year mathematics scholarships to one hundred forty-three students. Links to the scholarship application form is available at www.somervillemathematicsfund.org For more information, to volunteer or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact Erica Voolich (617-666-0666 or mathfund@gmail.com).