Julian is a graduating senior at Prospect Hill Academy in Cambridge, MA. He has been a Math Literacy Worker with the Cambridge program since the spring of 2008. Julian will be attending Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA with a full academic scholarship starting this fall.
I began in YPP last year and it has been a different experience for me. I have already done a lot of work with children and have already had a good deal of leadership experience. But YPP really pushed me to acheieve a level higher than where I had began.
YPP really puts its facilitators, the MLWs [Math Literacy Workers], in a position that many people beleive they should not be in; managing and teaching children. Children, whom many believe are the world's most valuable resource, should not be entrusted to just anybody. So for YPP to have people who are little more than children themselves, teaching children seems a little irresponsible. That is until you witness the kind of work that is accomplished with YPP. YPP has managed to create a situation where the participants are close to a peer of their teachers. The age gap is one that the kids we teach are close enough to be our younger siblings, and they often act just like a younger sibling would. Truth be told, the children can be annoying pessimistic, and drawl sometimes. But when you get them to look at the material with eagerness, to attempt the challenging material, and to leave with a deeper appreciation of math, there really is no better feeling.
I believe that YPP has managed something amazing. And they aren't even paying me to say this =] ; but seriously YPP has in a way changed my life for the better.