LHS Students Using Math to Connect with Middle Schoolers 

As the wild end to senior years start to calm—AP exams have finished, prom is in the picture books and spring sports are wrapping—juniors and seniors in Jordan Vander Veen’s AP Calculus class at Lynden High School have turned their attention to the past, focusing on middle school. 

After completing AP exams, a lull exists before graduation. Vander Veen partnered with Lynne Barrios at Lynden Middle School to offer high schoolers a chance to revisit nostalgia by giving back to the middle schoolers. This year, the AP Calculus students are visiting groups of identified LMS students to explore mathematics and discuss interesting questions. Lucas Allgire, Lynden junior, says it has proven productive. “There was a lot of engagement between the grades,” he says, “with the middle schoolers leading the way.” 

In an initial exercise, students collaborated to examine a problem and its unique nuances, leveraging the skills of each group in the class. “I like that we’re investigating concepts that are brand new to both the middle schoolers and high schoolers,” says Lynden senior Caleb Rus, “so we’re all on the same page.”

Barrios says that with both sets of students new to the problem, “it created an authentic problem-solving environment, with strong collaboration and discussion across grade levels.” 

Maren Baldwin, a Lynden senior, says the students also had the opportunity to chat about school and connect on different topics, from music to art, all while exploring math. “It’s been nice to remember what middle school was like when we’re so close to graduation,” she says. 

In a second trip, Vander Veen brought triangle templates, encouraging students to explore different ways of connecting vertices to create shapes. It was hands-on, visual and highly engaging, Barrios says. “It’s been exciting to see students learning alongside one another and building connections across grade levels,” she says. 

The high schoolers will make four total trips to LMS, meeting with different groups of students along the way. Each time is a chance to learn and, as Rus says, “it’s been fun.”