West Hills Elementary named Imagine Math State winner

MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) - Students and teachers at West Hills Elementary are celebrating their hard work in the classroom. The school earned a high honor in the state of Mississippi for math skills.

And first place goes to…West Hills Elementary! The school beat out 90 districts in the state of Mississippi for the Imagine Math Fall Contest for pre-k through 2nd grade. West Hills had the highest average of earned tokens with 43.47 tokens.

“It’s very exciting. It’s an honor, to be honest. I know they love it but I guess now I know how much they really love it,” said West Hills Elementary 2nd grade math teacher, Veronica Adams,

Imagine Learning is a nationwide company that partnered with the Mississippi Department of Education to bring this math program to school districts across the state. This is only the second semester the contest has taken place in the state.

“The students are all on their own individualized pathways, working through this storybook setting and they just fall in love with the characters and there are lots of different, you know, songs for them to sing along to. And they gain tokens along the way. And even if they get a problem wrong, they’re able to, our system will provide them with scaffolds and skills to help them get that question right. And when they go back and they get it right, they get more tokens,” said Imagine Learning Mississippi Account Executive, Gina Gagliano.

Students were in complete awe when they saw not only their winning plaque but a shiny traveling trophy with their school’s name forever engraved as winners for the 2022 Fall semester.

“I was like, wow. And I just want to say that I’ve got the best teachers and the best principals,” said 2nd-grade student, Ian Moore.

Adams said this interactive computer program has helped her students improve their math skills tremendously. She said it allows students to build a foundation of math concepts.

“My kids are looking to open up the other areas. There are so many areas that are still locked and they get the coins and they’re all like, oh I want to get to the next level, so I have to have so many coins. So they know they have to continue advancing and passing lessons. The passing of lessons is very important because it allows them to see their progress and it lets them know. One of my students mentioned this to me. They said if I don’t understand, it explains it to me so well and I go back and I’m successful the second time around,” said Adams.

And with a new semester beginning, West Hills is on a mission to keep its title here at home.

“We’ll see you next time for the next trophy,” said Adams.

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