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By Carol Holzgrafe

Left to right, Nicole Tagliaferri, Meghan Criswell, Jennifer Conrey and Rick Conrey.

Photo by: Chris Riley

The Palo Alto-based American Institute of Mathematics, John Fry’s brainchild, is already making a difference in Morgan Hill. The research group is changing the lives math-inclined students and the TV-watching, lecture-going public - years before it moves to town.

Brian Conrey, the Institute’s executive director, lives in Morgan Hill and is committed to spreading the joys of math to students, beginning with sixth graders. Working with Charter School of Morgan Hill, he has brought a program called “Math Counts” to students with good results.

Math Counts is an enrichment program where students prepare for a regional or even national math competition between schools by practicing problem solving strategies. The kids work hard but have fun, Conrey said. Charter School’s first year team turned out to be all girls, but boys are welcome too, he said. The second year is just underway but Conrey is already trying to expand the program to other South County schools. All they need is interest, time and parent volunteers.

“AIM will be good for Morgan Hill,” Conrey said.

Math Counts is totally voluntary but, once a week, up to 25 Charter School students meet to exercise their math brains and have fun. Most are in sixth or seventh grade though some energetic fifth-graders squeaked in, not willing to wait the extra year. The core group is between 12 and 15 hard core math fiends.

“The program has challenged kids to think about math in a different way,” said Charter Principal Sharon Sousa. One would expect the program to target students already doing well in math, she said but, actually there is no such criteria.

“It’s self-selective,” she said. “But the program really sparked their interest.”

Sousa said her kids were thrilled with the competition, especially when they were recognized as the best new school. Sousa said she doesn’t exactly know why Conrey chose Charter School.

“We were extremely fortunate to have caught their attention,” she said.

Conrey said his goal is to involve a dozen local schools - public or private matters not.

“We want a critical mass of schools,” Conrey said. At that point each school could have its own Math Counts team, which could lead to a South Valley regional competition. But, that would require some fancy fundraising - registration is $85 per student - so Conrey and his team have come up with a dilly.

The Institute will sponsor an appearance and talk, on Nov. 25, by the sympathetic and empathetic mathematician, John Allen Paulos, who will speak to the public at the newly renovated Community Playhouse. Paulos is the author of “Innumerancy” a book that opened the door to mathematics just a bit for people who have spent their lives avoiding the subject.

Paulos’ book, “A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper,” is not only amusing but enlightening about how much math there is in daily news stories: through percentages, statistics, odds and quite a bit of geometry. Think about the geometry of space flight, for example. His latest book is “A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market.”

Paulos’s audiences have ranged from classrooms to stock market forums to NASA and the Smithsonian; the author has appeared on Larry King Live, PBS’s Jim Lehrer’s News Hour, 20/20 and David Letterman. He has even been the answer to a question on Jeopardy. Now he will come to Morgan Hill.

The talk will be followed by a reception where the audience will hear Conrey tout his favorite kid-math program and, possibly, pass the hat so more South County students can take part in Math Counts. All proceeds from the evening will go to Math Counts in Morgan Hill.

Besides extra-curricular enrichment, the Institute has had another effect on the town. Conrey has imported Live Oak graduates to AIM’s Palo Alto conference center. He hired not only his own daughter Jennifer, and son Rick, but several of their friends to help him run the center.

Nicole Tagliaferri, class of ‘03, holds down the fort in the office.

“She’s a great help,” Conrey said. A sign in her office claims, “Mathematicians have more fun.”

Meghan Criswell, Live Oak ‘03, handles travel, meals, hotels and expenses for the Institute, not a small undertaking, considering the numbers and countries involved. When the Institute moves to Morgan Hill, the entire operation will take place on site, with the conference center also providing room, board and entertainment plus the intellectual vigor of workshops.

“This is like a savior job,” Criswell said. She had been working at a hair salon after high school but finds being Conrey’s assistant far less monotonous and far more challenging.

“I need to make sure the place runs well,” she said. Criswell said she isn’t actually a math person but has fond memories of one Live Oak English teacher.

“Mr. Spain actually taught us,” she said. She still keeps a binder with his English handouts.

Ross Richardson, a San Martin scion and Bellarmine and Harvey Mudd graduate, now a math grad student at UC San Diego, designed the website’s online interface that broadcasts AIM’s purpose and facilitates setting up conferences. Conrey said the website was a major undertaking and has been extremely helpful.

“We hope he comes back,” he said. There is more to do.

The Math Institute plans to relocate to Morgan Hill after details are smoothed out over a golf course Fry and his AIM co-founder Steve Sorenson have built on the old Hill Country property on Foothill Avenue. The Institute will move into an extensively renovated Flying Lady restaurant.

Tickets are $7.50 general and $5 student, available at BookSmart, 17415 Monterey Road at West Second Street, 778-6467. Tickets are free to school groups. Details on AIM and the Paulos talk, www.aimath.org

Carol Holzgrafe is a reporter at the Morgan Hill Times. She covers all local news, including City Hall.