Picture a large room with tall, yellow walls accented with white trim, three black chalkboards in the front and 160 blue metal chairs facing them. This is the Multivariable Calculus classroom at the Harvard Extension School, a room visited often by seven BHS students who have completed BC Calculus.

In most cases, these students were able to skip a year of math in elementary school and enroll in the Math I-AP program at BHS in eighth grade.

Now, in their senior year, having exhausted the math resources at the high school, they are offered compensation of up to $975 for any math class they choose to take outside of the high school.

In recent years, the process has been successful, according to Mathematics Curriculum Cooridnator Joshua Paris.

“I believe that for all of these student, it has worked out great, and that’s fantastic,” said Paris.  “You can get a year ahead, but at the same time, you’re also being appropriately challenged in math. Ultimately, that’s our main goal.”

Students have expressed positive feedback after having completed a majority of the program, including senior Paula Kates.

“I’m glad I did the year-skip to some degree,” said Kates. “I prefer to be challenged than bored.”

Junior Dimitar Dimitrov, who also takes Harvard Extensions’ Multivariable Calculus class, is also pleased with his decision to take the accelerated pathway.

“I am glad,” said Dimitrov.  “I have friends who have taken both years of math that I skipped. I’ve seen what they have done, and honestly, I’m happy I didn’t have to spend a whole year on that.”

Despite this recent success, Paris wishes to remind students of the inherent risk in skipping a year of math.  He recalled one student in particular.

“This student didn’t even go to BC Calculus,” said Paris. “She went to AB Calculus as a junior.  Furthermore, I believe she struggled in that class.  It’s because she ultimately wasn’t prepared, and she got burnt out.”

Although Kates and Dimitrov agreed they are content with their decision to skip a year of high school math, both had less enthusiastic reactions to their new math class at Harvard.

“It’s much easier than BHS advanced math classes,” said Kates. “After taking my first test, I thought that I probably would have been able to pass it a year ago in BC Calc.”

Kates also added that she strongly prefers her BHS math teachers over her professor at Harvard.

“This school has great math teachers,” said Kates.  “Ms. Jenkins is incredible.  I don’t think I ever loved math. But, thanks to her, I could appreciate it as well as understand why people like it so much.”

Dimitrov had similar thoughts on the matter, saying that he would much prefer the creation of a fifth math class at the high school.

According to Paris, having seven or eight students interested is right around the tipping point where the school would consider offering such an optional class.  He suggested a topics course as a probable choice.

“It’s by no means certain,” said Paris.  “However, one possibility is that [the topics] class may be a better option for the students who we are talking about.  They could take that course, and it would serve as a format in which they could pursue topics chosen by teachers and others chosen by themselves.”

Dimitrov appeared doubtful of a class with so much independence.

“I feel like that could be a double-edged sword. It gives you freedom to do what you enjoy, which by definition is a good thing,” said Dimitrov. “On the other hand, having only completed basic math courses in their lives, I don’t think students would be able to adequately choose a topic.  They haven’t had the chance, and I haven’t had the chance, to explore well enough what areas of math really interest them.”

Kates expressed interest in the possible math course, but also suggested an idea of her own.

“I think it would be awesome to have a history of math class,” said Kates.  “In normal math classes, teachers always give you some formula, then briefly explain in five minutes what happened in the 2,000 years leading up to its creation.  Wouldn’t it be cool to work your way through math history and really examine how these formulas came to be?”

Brookline Public Schools Deputy Superintendent of Administration and Finance Peter Rowe confirmed the possibility of an additional math class.

“I’m sure it could work from a financial standpoint.  That being said, students would need to be interested in the idea of a math class with a certain amount of structure as well as a certain amount of independence,” said Rowe.  “There are a lot of possibilities.  This is just one of them. I’m sure it will be interesting to see what happens.”

Nate Birch can be contacted at bhs.sagamore@gmail.com.