Math-genius middle schoolers find home at UB

It seems somewhat unusual to see middle schoolers running around a college campus with their Snack Packs and Trapper Keepers. If you're lucky, you might catch a bewildering glimpse at some of the munchkins of UB's Gifted Math Program students as they scurry off to math classes that you'd probably never dare to attempt.

For the past 26 years, the GMP has brought some of Western New York's brightest youth to the vanguard of advanced learning in math.

These students are bright spots for area schools at a time of controversy over lack of funding for the No Child Left Behind Act and eighth-grade math scores that are below proficiency levels for many students statewide.

Middle school students entering the GMP in the seventh-grade are a select few. The program serves the top one half of one percent in Erie County, according to Dr. Betty Krist, director of the GMP. There are currently 244 students enrolled.

"It's a cooperative effort between the schools and university, and the parents and families," Krist said.

Entrance into the program involves teacher recommendation, parent conferences and a rigorous battery of tests in the sixth-grade, including two math tests, the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test and the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. Parents pay a text and grading fee and part-time tuition cost for college credit.

Students who start GMP study at UB are advised to stick with it through 12th grade graduation. There are difficulties if they drop out of the program.

"It doesn't align with your curriculum as well," said Bill Stewart, a guidance counselor at Casey Middle School in Williamsville. "There's a disparity in content. Students who drop out often need a tutor to get back in line with what the high schools are teaching."

Williamsville school district has 46 students currently enrolled in the GMP from four middle schools and three high schools. Williamsville is one of the wealthier school districts that have an in-district, accelerated math program of its own.

Ninety-one percent of students scored at or above the required eighth-grade math proficiency levels in the Williamsville suburb for 2005, compared to only 24.3 percent in the Buffalo school district. That illustrates a disparity education officials are trying to remedy. And while GMP study replaces regular secondary and high school math, students are not exempt from the exams.

"It's not a huge problem, but one of the annoyances we deal with," Krist said. "Even though an eighth grader is doing advanced work, he still has to do an eighth-grade assessment. So, he has to go back and do review of things he hasn't seen in years."

"That's irritating," she said. "In the process of having standards for everyone in which no one is exempt, no one is exempt."

Jane Meka, a resident of Snyder, put both a son and daughter through GMP study.

"Some of the material my daughter's learning in statistics class even now at the college level. She said to me, 'Mom, I learned this in eighth-grade,' " Meka said. "These classes are weighted very heavily."

Her son, Paul, received an honors scholarship through UB and her daughter Sara, a partial UB scholarship.

Sara Meka is currently a GMP mentor and senior UB student majoring in urban planning and architecture. Once a student of the program, she now grades the homework assignments, quizzes and exams of gifted students following after her.

"Because I've been through the program, sometimes the students can relate to me a little better than they maybe would in some cases to the teachers," Meka said. "And these are some of the best teachers I've had, especially for math. This program is capable of seeking out instructors who love to teach math."

"I also met a lot of friends that I still keep in touch with even now," Meka said. "You meet kids who have a different background than you and you're together through the program for the whole six years."

But some students don't make it through the full six years of GMP study. Only 50 percent of students who start the program finish, due to transportation or schedule conflicts, according to Krist.

"It's not a question of ability. It's all the other things that come into play," Krist said.

Students attend UB twice weekly for two 70 minute classes after a full day of regular classes at their middle school or high school. Sports, theater and other extracurricular activities create greater time constraints and difficulty. And parents must be relied upon for transportation amidst an already limited family schedule.

"We usually had car pools," said Harkiran Singh, a junior chemistry major who attended the GMP while a student at Amherst Central High School. "It got a lot easier the last two years of high school when everyone was driving."

Graduates of the GMP said they find it to be a helpful addition to their resume and a valuable tool for winning scholarships and college entrance. Students can earn up to 22 university credits while still in high school.

"I'm a year ahead of where I'm really at," said Singh, who said he believes that the true value of the GMP program depends on the individual student. "I kind of didn't like attending the classes after regular school, because it's such a long day. But it's really beneficial. I got all A's, which increased my grade point average."

"As far as the effort put into it and the amount of money put into it, I only ended up with three credits for Cornell," said Taylor Oesterle, a 2004 GMP graduate and major in engineering at Cornell University. "I could've just gone through the advanced placement program at my high school. I didn't know I was going to go this route."

But Oesterle credits completion of the UB's math program with helping him enter Cornell University.

"People seem to look at the name of the program pretty favorably," he said. The teachers were good. They carried the curriculum well, and the program was well organized."

Many GMP students prefer the challenge the advanced courses offer, despite the time constraints. Steven Boulden is one such student.

Boulden's average UB day begins with ninth-grade classes at Starpoint Central High School in Pendleton, followed by a track team meet until 5:30 pm. He is then driven directly to UB math where he absorbs himself in the work.

"It can be confusing, but then when you finally find out how something works, it's really cool that you're understanding something so complex," Boulden said.

"What I want to be when I grow up keeps changing," he said. "Maybe law school."