Some students spend summer away at camp, running from activity to activity and singing campfire songs as they go. Some travel around the world, licking gelato and exploring ancient ruins. No matter the summer activity, the sun is hot, the air is humid, and the days are long. For students taking a summer math class, their days feel even longer.

Parker holds the Algebra II and Trigonometry summer course in an Upper School classroom, and according to Director of Auxiliary Programs Alex Franke, the course is capped at a small number of students–usually around nine–due to the pace of the material, though applications are not necessary. Juniors and sophomores from Parker, Latin, and schools as far as California can take the course–though it isn’t free–and this year nine students worked for five hours a day, for four weeks on functions, exponents, triangles and more.

Algebra II Trig, as opposed to other math courses such as Geometry, is always offered as a course. “We find that with Geometry there’s so much inductive and deductive reasoning which we really have to let marinate,” Math Department Co-Chair Wendy Olt said. “We’d never want a kid to miss a year-long Geometry course, and this class is the most common summer pathway.”

The Algebra II Trig summer course was originally introduced because each grade was split into two math levels in eighth grade: Algebra 1 + and Eighth Grade Math. The latter course would otherwise lead students towards a senior year of Precalculus, and those on that track who wish to take Calculus senior year are required to take this summer course. The sophomores were the first grade in which all students took Algebra 1, so this course will no longer be necessary in the future.

According to Olt, the summer course allows students on an otherwise different math track to take Calculus or Conceptual Calculus by senior year. “Maybe an eighth grader is a late bloomer in math, and when they get to their sophomore year they become really interested and weren’t before,” Olt said. “The purpose is to give all the kids who didn’t have the opportunity before to take all the classes.”

These reasons were appealing to Junior Ethan Rosenberg, who wanted to go into Precalculus this year and take Calculus senior year. “I’ve heard that certain schools require Calculus senior year or in general,” Rosenberg said, “and I decided I’d rather do that over this summer than the summer after senior year.”

Junior Wil Rantala, who completed the courses and is in Precalculus this year, had similar reasons for taking the course, though it felt rushed. “There were a lot of key parts of the class that we didn’t get to cover that heavily,” Rantala said.  “We only spent 25 minutes on logarithms, and the rest was studying on our own.”

Rosenberg, who is currently in Algebra II Trig, felt similarly. “The class was long, and it was sort of tedious. It was four hours a day, and we were supposed to learn a week of math every day,” Rosenberg said. “You can’t learn enough in a month or two months that you’re supposed to in a full year, and the amount of work we did in such a short amount of time really wasn’t beneficial for my learning, so it didn’t stick with me.”

Olt believes that motivation to take Pre Calc as a junior and Conceptual Calc as senior is critical to the success of each student both in the summer course and when they return to school in the fall. “The student ownership is on them to work all summer and to make sure they’re on top of it,” Olt said. “Throughout the year there will be times when they didn’t revisit something in their summer course, and they have to go on Khan Academy or work with their teacher to get caught up.”

This year only three Parker students passed the course, though Rosenberg did not. “I expected the class to be sort of easy since it was only a month long and we only had around four tests and ten quizzes,” Rosenberg said. “Looking back, it probably wasn’t for me, but it depends on the person and if they’re better at math, they should.”

Any student can take the math course, and according to Olt, many students who take the course do succeed in their new math level. “Students who did the course just to do it and didn’t take it seriously will, of course, not be committed, but that’s true with any class,” Olt said.  “Students who want the opportunities and want to do well will be fine.”

For Rantala, the class was successful in preparing him for Precalculus. He is hopeful for the rest of the year. “There’s a lot of material that the class is saying they’re comfortable with and the kids who took the math course aren’t,” Rantala said. “We’re just figuring it out as we go with the rest of the class, and soon the whole class will be learning new materials so everyone will be together.”