Notre Dame sophomore gives back to the community at local elementary school.
After spending another day volunteering as a division II game monitor at a Math Pentathlon Tournament in Farmington last spring, now-Notre Dame sophomore Alex Blanchet decided to voluntarily start his own program to help Pontiac public school students with a subject near and dear to his heart: math. After researching and e-mailing back and forth with the principal and a volunteer coordinator at Will Rogers Elementary School, which is part of the School System of the City of Pontiac and located in Auburn Hills, and then finally meeting with both of them last spring, he decided he could make the math pentathlon happen at Rogers during this winter.
Blanchet chose to work with first-grade students at Rogers because he wanted to maintain continuity in the program as both he and the Rogers’ students moved on in their respective schools year-to-year. He’s also happy the school is fairly close to Notre Dame so he can get there more quickly after his own school day finishes.
“Basically, Mathematics Pentathlon is a program of interactive problem-solving games primarily for students in grades K-7,” Blanchet said. “It helps the kids with basic math concepts and skills and stimulates creative thinking while also developing problem-solving skills.”
According to the Pentathlon Institute, which sponsors the program, participants use specially designed games and activities that allow students of varying abilities and learning styles to get more motivated to enjoy math. The program also aligns with most national and state mathematics standards.
Blanchet himself played in Math Pentathlon tournaments for six years throughout his own elementary-school years. “I also helped with the program throughout middle school by working on tournament setup," he said. "And the first year I became eligible, as a high schooler, I worked as a game monitor at a division II tournament in Farmington.”
He added that Dr. Mary Gilfeather, who is president of the Pentathlon Institute, which is based in Indianapolis, agreed to donate all of the supplies to start the program, including three sets of each of the five game boards, supportive curricular and instructional activity books and assessment tools.
After a few minor delays, Blanchet was able to start his program with the Rogers first graders in January. He spends an hour with the students on Tuesdays after school, always beginning with a snack and activity for the kids. After snacks, he said the kids engage in a large motor activity before settling down for 10 minutes of instruction and 20 minutes of hands-on playing math games.
“The students have made a lot of progress in learning the math games,” he said. “I hope to be able to accompany a few of the students to the Division I tournament in Walled Lake next month.”
While Blanchet said he is doing this for the kids, he nonetheless hopes the program has the same spinoff effect as a previous math program had at Rogers Elementary.
“Last spring, when I first met with Mrs. St. Onge, the volunteer coordinator at Rogers, to talk about starting the program, she told me that they had a math club before for some students at the school and that parents were invited to attend,” Blanchet said. “She told me the program was just as impactful on the parents as it was on the students, resulting in some of the parents being able to get a job from what they learned in the program.”
Blanchet said that sometimes we don't always realize the trickle-down effect our good deeds have on others. In fact, he said that he’s had at least one parent take him up on an invitation to join him and learn the math games alongside their student.
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." The Marist Fathers and Brothers sponsor NDPMA's Catholic identity and manages its educational program. Notre Dame is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools, the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.