On February 3rd, 2012, Robin Pyo, a freshman from Granite Hills High School and Sophia Park, a junior from Apple Valley High School formed a Math Club for students in Apple Valley who need assistance in math and don’t have the money to go to a preparatory academy. There are currently 17 members both tutors and tutees. Apple Valley is a rural community with a population of approximately 70,200 people and no preparatory academies for students to get tutored. “This is a real disadvantage for students in Apple Valley area because they don’t have any academies to go and improve if they are struggling on a certain subject,” says Megan Decker, a parent of a student attending Apple Valley High School.
“Now, I see that things are starting to change,” says Heather Lee, a parent of a student attending Granite Hills High School. After hearing about the new Math Club that opened recently, parents were blissful. “My child has always been struggling in math, but I’m very glad I can have some hope for him to get better at it,” says Lisa Parker, a parent of a student attending Granite Hills High School. “I’ve always wanted to send my son to a preparatory academy for him to get tutored in math, but it was too costly; I’m very ecstatic that this math club was made; maybe my son could actually do better in math!” says So Kyung Kim, a parent of a student attending Granite Hills High School.
In such a rural community with no preparatory academies, struggling students that attend school in Apple Valley didn’t really have anywhere to depend on nearby to improve their grades until this math club was created. Other cities/communities such as Koreatown, Los Angeles has around as much preparatory academies as there are schools and students can get plenty of help whenever and wherever.
“I hope this math club will improve students’ math grades and help students know more about math if they are already good at it,” says Robin Pyo, one of the two leaders of the Math Club. “I really want this Math Club to become more widely-known so more and more students who are struggling in math can know about this opportunity to become better at math,” says Sophia Park, one of the two leaders of the Math Club. This math club could be the first step to developing more academic programs in Apple Valley in the future.
