Chris Theriot hasn’t always made the best choices, which is what landed him in the middle school transitions program at Douglass, an alternative school in Leesburg, Virginia. But he’s a bright student who, in the past few months, has come to understand why math is important.

Thanks to the Pitsco Education Pre-Algebra program and his passion for skateboarding, Chris now sees relevance in school, especially math.

“At the other schools, they would just stand at the board and teach, and if you didn’t get it, you didn’t get it,” he said. “When I didn’t get it, I would ask my friends and then I’d get in trouble for talking in class.”

Now that Chris is learning pre-algebra on the computer through Individualized Prescriptive Lessons (IPLs) and Modules, he’s much more engaged.

“It’s a lot better than sitting there and doing paperwork all day. If you get it wrong, the program tells you and it just doesn’t say, ‘Work it out.’ It can actually help. You’ve got to go through the introduction again, and that makes it so much easier.”

Another revelation occurred recently that caused the seventh grader to want to learn math.

“I understand now I’m going to need it,” he said. “The thing that changed me was when I went to the skate shop. I bought a new skateboard and I was getting grip tape, like sandpaper that goes on the top so your feet stay on, and they started talking in fractions about it. I was like, ‘Huh?’ He was like, ‘You want one-fourth of one-half of the grip tape.’ He said, ‘Do you want it cut into slits, like in a design?’ I was like, ‘If I’m going to be a skateboarder, I’m going to need all this information.’”

Facilitator Samuel Taylor is pleased to see Chris fully engaged in his work and no longer just trying to skate by.

“Before, I would try to cheat the system and get all the answers the easy way,” Chris said. “Then I decided if I was gonna be a skateboarder, I’ll need this information to do everything. When I’m doing the math, I think about skateboarding. It helps me relate to it because it’s something I like doing.”