Algebra Project Alumni Omo and Khari Milner (family friend and Algebra Project graduate), now college students at George Washington and the University of North Carolina teach at the Dearborn Elementary in Boston at the end of their Spring semesters.
Chad, Malaika and Monica work as counselors in the Algebra Project Summer Camp.
The Flagway Game - Bob develops the Flagway Game.
Mississippi - During the Spring, Omo spends two weeks with Taba in Mississippi helping 7th grade Algebra Project students create journals from their class work. He was introduced to Java Jackson, April Davis, Melvin Bell, Durrell Moore, Sammie Myers, Antonio Allen, Shameka Shelton, Nate Young, and Demetrica Gorden who became the students who would found YPP.
During the Summer, Khari Milner, Basonge James and Karimu Rashad went to Jackson, Mississippi with Taba. They teach in the Brinkley Middle School Summer program and participate in graphing calculator workshops conducted by Leo Edwards for teachers in the Mississippi Delta.
Omo, Taba and Khari return to Mississippi in the Fall. Omo works with Bob in Victoria Byrd’s 8th grade AP classroom. They prepare students for the Algebra 1 exam using TI-80 graphing calculators. Students who participated in Leo Edwards Summer workshops assist students and teachers in learning how to use the graphing calculator and begin conducting Saturday workshops. Taba and Khari develop the MathLab (link to gallery of math lab photos), the first activity of the Math Lab is to organize an all school Flagway Tournament.
Omo, Taba, Khari and students from Brinkley meet regularly with Dave Dennis, then Director of the Southern Initiative of the Algebra Project (SIAP). They begin thinking about a model for a youth led organization that centers around young people teaching each other mathematics.
Thelma Magee an AP teacher and trainer from the Delta organizes for Omo, Taba and students from Brinkley to conduct a week long workshop in the Shelby, MS with 8th and 9th grade students teaching them how to use the graphing calculator. Sammie Myers, Java Jackson, Shameka Shelton, Melvin Bell, Durrelle Moore, Nate Young, and Micheal Porter make the trip.
The swimming pool - After being threatened to be kicked out of rooms for poor hotel etiquette Omo, Taba and students return to Jackson. On the ride home, Taba says, "we're the young people's project".
Sammie, Java, Shameka, Melvin and Durrelle return with Omo to Shelby for the final day of workshops.
YPP Cambridge - During the Summer, London Hardy and Jose Garcia, childhood friends of Omo and Taba, express interest in working with the Algebra Project. They participate in an Algebra Project training, led by Lynne Godfrey (Maisha, Omo and Khari’s 6th grade teacher). Omo, Taba and London pool their money, purchase a computer and established an office in the Moses family residence. London and Jose begin teaching in Algebra Project classrooms in the Cambridge Public School System. With the help of Mo Barbosa and Sion Chambers, they begin an after school program and summer camp at the Area IV Youth Center. Bruce Martin, Omo's teammate on city and state championship basketball teams, begins volunteering with YPP. Jessy Fernandez, then a Freshman at Harvard University, is, along with Bruce, one of the first counselors in the after school program and organizes other Harvard students to participate. Antwan Gonsalves, then a middle school student and neighbor begins working in the YPP office on School St. He introduces his cousin Jakeem to Omo and London. They become the first high school students to work in YPP Cambridge.
(Bruce and Daco)
(Jakeem Gonsalves and student conducting a Graphing Calculator workshop)
Maisha to Mississippi - After spending six years working with the Algebra Project in Oakland, Maisha decides to relocate to Mississippi to develop a training program for the Young People’s Project.
Taiwo and Kehinde to Mississippi - Taba recruits Taiwo and then Kehinde, grandsons of AP Board Member Vida Gaynor to relocate to Mississippi. Taiwo and Kehinde along with Talib Gramby begin developing YPP's desktop publishing operation, revising the AP Transition Curriculum and developing curricular materials for AP and YPP. They begin training students in YPP to do desktop publishing and graphic design. Taiwo and Kehinde are both married and live in Jackson. They have founded their own company, Dreamworld Communications, LLC which specializes in media production, publishing and design.
NCCU - 15 students from Jackson along with Taiwo and Kehinde Gaynor and Talib Gramby, travel to North Carolina Central University (NCCU) to training SIAP students in the Graphing Calculator, Flagway games and Graphic Design as part of a leadership institute organized by Dave Dennis.
(Click to go to student reports from NCCU)
Mississippi to Massachusetts - 15 students from Jackson spend the Summer in Cambridge, Ma training local YPP students to do Math Literacy Work. These trainings coincided with the YPP Summer Camp, training participants went on to pioneer math literacy work in Cambridge and Boston, (Hector Acevedo, Symarlis Colon, Jazmin Scott and Deniel Jones) were among the initial participants who went on to form the first YPP local advisory board. >> Click Here for gallery of photos <<.
MIRA - YPP is awarded a grant from the Kellogg Foundation titled Managing Information with Rural America (MIRA). Students and community members from Jackson partner with students and community members from Kosciusko and Duck Hill, Mississippi. Among other things, participants are introduced to Digital Storytelling by Thenmozhi Soundararajan. Bruce begins to learn video editing and works with students in Cambridge to document and produce video clips of their work.
The Prime Number Rap - Bob and Taba work with students to create songs that help students learn more about numbers. The students perform at the Farish St. Parade in Jackson.
"Click the links below to learn our Prime number songs!"
