Grade school students get college prize

February 26, 2008

More than 400 fourth graders are visiting three ASU campuses this week and next week, as part of a partnership program between ASU and the Rodel Foundation’s Math Achievement Club (MAC-Ro).

The students are outstanding participants in the MAC-Ro program who have completed all of their club requirements. Their reward is an opportunity to see how their continued hard work will pay off in terms of a college education. All of the visits will have a math theme and include an opportunity to meet and talk with current ASU students.

Students from Amberlea School in the Pendergast District came to the West campus Feb. 20 to participate in engaging activities, including a chemistry presentation by the Department of Integrative Natural Sciences. Students from Loma Linda in the Creighton District and Whittier in Phoenix Elementary District will come to the Tempe campus on Feb. 22 to visit the Mars Exhibit and various exhibits in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, and have a presentation by “Ask a biologist.”  

Children from Sunridge in the Fowler District and J. B. Sutton in the Isaac District will travel to Mesa on Feb. 29 to experience a tour of the Polytechnic campus. They will visit the Ping Swing Lab, consumer behavior laboratory, engineering lab, and Microelectronics Teaching Factory.

This program is part of Access ASU, an umbrella of outreach initiatives designed to expose students of all ages to higher education. The goals of Access ASU are to widen the pipeline of students enrolling at the university and to leverage ASU resources in the community.

MAC-Ro is an initiative of the Rodel Charitable Foundation of Arizona with a proven track record of improving the math achievement of elementary school students. It uses a combination of increased time on task, parent involvement, strategies for teaching the Arizona Academic Standards, systematic review and monthly “surprises” as motivation for students to do well. More than 22,000 students in seven counties are participating in MAC-Ro this year.