The Learn Fresh team has selected two students from the Eastern region to represent the Sixers at the second annual NBA Math Hoops National Championship in Detroit May 18-20. One of these two students is our very own Gianni Steele, 6^th grader at Cramer Hill Upper!!

Sixers Math Hoops is an exciting, fast-paced, basketball-themed board game and curriculum that teach students fundamental life skills such as sportsmanship, teamwork and problem-solving while also fostering their math literacy and appreciation skills. Students have the opportunity to “draft” their favorite Sixers and other NBA and WNBA players while improving not only their math skills and understanding of statistics, but also their ability to collaborate more effectively with their peers.

All students who complete 25 games and 10 (out of the 12) curriculum pieces by 2/9/2018 were eligible to apply for the National Championship selection process. The application includes a video submission (created by the student) that is meant to show the student’s experience with math hoops and why they should be chosen to go the tournament and a letter of recommendation from their educator.

Once Learn Fresh, the Sixers Youth Foundation implementation partner of this program gathered all of the applications from across the country, everyone on their team took part in a selection process that included each of them individually watching each video and reading each letter of recommendation. Although it was important for Learn Fresh to see how much they participated during the season, any of the students who qualified were considered outstanding participants in the program.  For this reason, they paid special attention to how transformative the National Championship experience would be for the student. In the end, Learn Fresh selected 20 students from around the country to participate.

The National Championship tournament in Detroit is an all-expense paid trip for the student, one educator and one parent/guardian. The attendees will arrive in Detroit on Friday, May 18th and be exposed to STEM, sports and cultural experiences through Sunday, May 20th.

Examples of this will include: a visit to the Henry Ford Museum, a trip to the University of Michigan, a Pistons Arena tour, etc. After last year’s tournament, Learn Fresh had certain students remark that they now wanted to go to college.  They intend for this experience to be life changing for these 20 participants as well.