Community Outreach

How is the DC Summer Math Institute supporting the larger DMV community with math enrichment opportunities?

The DC Summer Math Institute is committed to addressing inequities in math enrichment opportunities among students attending DC Public Schools. Unlike at many independent schools, which have the curricular flexibility and manageable class size to incorporate math enrichment into the standard curriculum, many DC public schools are not exposing students to math enrichment on a consistent basis. This in turn undermines students capacity to tackle problem-solving challenges in more advanced classes in high school, which further impedes students’ efforts to pursue STEM careers. The DC Summer STEM Academy, a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2021, aims to address this gap in math enrichment opportunities by providing math and computer programming workshops for students in grades 5 -8 over the course of a weeklong online summer camp experience. Andrew Callard, the director of the DC Summer Math Institute, also directs the DC Summer STEM Academy in his effort to provide summer STEM enrichment to students of all educational and socioeconomic backgrounds.

What is the DC Summer STEM Academy?

The DC Summer STEM Academy is a dynamic weeklong online program in math, science, and computer science that is being offered to students from public schools in the DMV area. It serves 20- 30 students, half of whom are in the 5th and 6th grade age group, and the other half of whom are in the 7th and 8th grade age group. The daily offering includes a 75-minute math enrichment and problem solving workshop that investigates the ways math plays a role in real-world contexts such as sports statistics, gaming strategies, space travel, and engineering design, a 75 minute STEM technology lesson in coding and/or engineering, a 45-minute lunch break, and a 45-minute “Game Time” period in which students play online games each other in recreational and tournament format.

What is the cost of the DC Summer STEM Academy?

The cost of the weeklong camp is $50, and both full and partial scholarships are available on a limited basis.

Who is running the DC Summer STEM Academy?

The camp is by Andrew Callard, in partnership with Dr. Aprille Ericsson and the DMV National Society of Black Engineers Jr. Chapter. Andrew is a veteran math teacher and math department chair at Sidwell Friends School, who has run the highly popular DC Summer Math Institute for the last 10 years. Dr. Ericsson is a systems analyst who works at NASA and leads many after school STEM activities for area DC public school students.