By Erica Dakin 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.

This year and last have been unusual school years. The Somerville Public School buildings were closed in early March 2020. Schools finally reopened for most students in the last week of April 2021. The students have been back in school this year, with pandemic precautions in place —it is not a “normal school year” like “back in the old days” pre-COVID. The classroom teachers and students have had to adapt to new routines and expectations.

This year we have ten teacher winners. Each teacher’s grant has a generous sponsor who is making their teacher’s work easier. Our congratulations to each of the winners and our thanks to each of the sponsors for their generous support:

• Johanna Cooney, Brown School (1st), math games, and organizational supplies, Sponsored by Rebecca Wood-Spagnoli.
• Julie Dabenigno, Missy Metteis, and Jenifer Leary for Kennedy School Pre-k – 1 group, Storybooks for Beautiful Stuff, Will Kuhlman.
• Roxane Scrima and Sharon Cuddy for Kennedy School Pre-k – 1 group, Storybooks for Beautiful Stuff, Sponsored by East Cambridge Savings Bank.
• Katelyn Dickson, Kennedy School (3-8 Upper Life Skills, Math and Science), Math Manipulatives, Sponsored by Lali & Jay Haines.
• Kelley Dickson, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (5 & 7 Resource Room), Math Manipulatives and Games, Sponsored by Jasper Lawson, PhD. & Associates.
• Alyssa Mackey, West Somerville Neighborhood School (7-8 Math), Math Classroom Materials, Sponsored by Tufts University.
• Andrea Palmer, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (K-8 Math Coach). Math Center Materials, Sponsored by Winter Hill Bank.
• Meredith Rothstein, Winter Hill Community Innovation School (3-5 Autism Classroom), Math Materials, Sponsored by Jasper Lawson, PhD. & Associates.
• Helen Schroeder, East Somerville Community School (K integrated SEI), Rekenrek, Math Materials, Sponsored by Philip Parsons.
• Meaghan Tubridy, Argenziano School (4th – 6th Special Education Resource Room), Math Intervention Materials, Sponsored by Mr and Mrs Donald F. McGoldrick.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage achievement in mathematics in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts. Over twenty-two years, the Somerville Math Fund has awarded $137,673 in teacher grants supporting three hundred fifty teachers’ projects in the city of Somerville along with emergency grants to East Somerville teachers after the devastating school fire.

In early April, the fund will be seeking applications from students who reside in Somerville for college mathematics scholarships. Over twenty-one years, the Somerville Math Fund has awarded a total of $505,000 in four-year mathematics scholarships to one hundred nine 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).