Saipan, CNMI – August 29, 2018 – The University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at the Northern Marianas College (NMC), through a grant subaward from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is launching a pilot project in Saipan called Project Be A Mathematician, or Project BEAM. 

Drs. Kiriko Takahashi and Hye-Jin Park, Principal Investigators for Project BEAM from the Center on Disability Studies at UH Manoa, were on island last week to meet with Jennifer-Eilleen E. Castro, UCEDD Program Manager at NMC, to lay the ground work in order to begin the implementation of the Project. 

The goal of Project BEAM (BE A Mathematician) is to scale up and evaluate a model designed to increase the number of middle school (MS) Native Hawaiian (NH), Native American (NA), Pacific Island (PI), and Hispanic students, identified as “mathematically promising.”  To contribute to research advancement and practice for promising indigenous students and sustain the efforts beyond the 5-year funding period, the project hopes to create a university-based gifted education program for indigenous and Hispanic students.

Park, Takahashi, and Castro met with Public School System (PSS) Interim Commission Glenn Muna, Associate Commissioner Jackie Quitugua, and Math Program Coordinator Lizabeth Hofshneider to provide information about Project BEAM, and to request for PSS’s assistance in piloting the program with Saipan’s middle schools.  PSS officials were very excited about the potential student outcomes, which include: attitude (attitudes towards math, math anxiety, sense of responsibility and excellence); cultural competence (sense of belonging and place); behavior (math engagement, characteristics of mathematically talented students); academic outcomes (algebra achievement, real world math application ability, enrollment in a gifted math program or club at middle school and a high school STEM honors certificate program), and STEM identity development.   At the meeting, two middle schools on Saipan were identified to participate in this pilot program: Hopwood Middle School (HMS) and Dandan Middle School (DMS).

Jennifer-Eilleen Castro, UCEDD Program Manager, says, “We’re all very excited about this project, which will help our students see the joys of math, and hopefully encourage them to go into STEM fields.  We are fortunate to have so much support from NMC, PSS, and UH Manoa.”

Initial meetings were held with the Vice-Principals Reo Arriola (DMS) and Victor Borja (HMS) to get assistance with identifying students who may be able to participate in the program.   The after-school and Saturday program will run for 10 weeks per semester, with 15 students per middle school receiving a total of 50 hours of additional learning support. 

The program also includes parent and community workshops to facilitate additional support.  Also discussed was the possibility of an intensive two-week math summer camp for middle school students.

Contact:

Floyd R. Masga/Jennifer-Eilleen E. Castro (UCEDD)

Northern Marianas College, PO Box 501250, Saipan, MP 96950

Email:  cnmi.ucedd@marianas.edu

Phone: (670) 234-5498 ext. 6801/6808