“Advanced math adds up to future success.” This motto is the first thing you’ll find when you first enter the website of The Calculus Project, a program dedicated to supporting the representation and success of Black, Hispanic, Indigenous and low-income students in advanced mathematics.

Brookline’s chapter of The Calculus Project is a full-year program, started in 2009 by former dean Adrian Mims, that provides support for students in math from 7th to 12th grade through “preview classes” in the summer and extra help after school.

Co-director and math teacher Lisa Rodriguez has been involved with the program for over a decade. When she first arrived at the high school, she said the racial disparities in high level math classes were evident.

“I feel like when I first started working here, there were barely any students of color in honors and advanced,” Rodriguez said. “Not because they couldn’t do it, but they were all separated, so they were like, ‘I’m the only one here, I want to be with my friends.’”

Through the program, students have the opportunity to take practice exams, retake quizzes they missed and get one-on-one help when they need it. Junior Maliah Thompson, who has been a part of the Calculus Project since her freshman year, said she recommends the program to others.

“I think it’s really good if you’re a person of color in an honors math class to find time to, one, meet teachers who are good and can help you, but also to develop a stronger bond so that you care about your work with your teachers,” Thompson said.

The summer portion of the program gives students the opportunity to review and prepare for the math class they will take in the fall. Junior Cole Ortiz attended the Calculus Project this summer, and said it was beneficial in preparing him for the upcoming school year.

“I think that at the start of this year, it helped me a lot with just getting back into the flow,” Ortiz said. “What we did during the summer at Calc Project was what we did [in math class] when the year started. So I think that helped me a lot and just kept me on track.”

Thompson said the program works to eliminate stereotypes about people of color.

“It’s kind of a stigma towards people of color not trying as hard in their classes,” Thompson said. “So when you’re together, with people who all want to do well and are working hard after school, it kind of creates a sense of community and people working hard together.”

Ortiz echoed Thompson in that the program aids in erasing these false notions and helping to provide equality.

“I think it’s very important to have a program like that because it definitely helps students who sometimes get behind in math, who are often underrepresented in math,” Ortiz said. “I think this really helps make sure that we disprove this belief that certain people are better.”

Rodriguez said that although it is easy to look for a source of blame when it comes to educational injustice, the Calculus Project works to address the root causes by working on what the school can change—things like the classroom environments and how informed teachers are.

“I think sometimes it could be very easy to put the blame on the students to be like, ‘Well if the student did X, Y, Z, they would see more success,’ or blame it on a larger structural issue,” Rodriguez said. “So this is a way to solve that structural issue, by doing what we can control.”