On this episode of Change Makers, enjoy hearing roving interviews from the 2024 Abacus Bee. Held in Louisville, Ky. students from across the country came to demonstrate their math skills on the abacus. After that, hear from APH's Erin Sigmund about the next Connect the Dots, powered by PNC Foundation event.
On this Podcast (In order of appearance)
Additional Links
On this episode of Change Makers, enjoy hearing roving interviews from the 2024 Abacus Bee. Held in Louisville, Ky. students from across the country came to demonstrate their math skills on the abacus. After that, hear from APH's Erin Sigmund about the next Connect the Dots, powered by PNC Foundation event.
On this Podcast (In order of appearance)
Additional Links
<silence> Welcome to Change Makers , a podcast from APH. We're talking to people from around the world who are creating positive change in the lives of people who are blind or have low vision. Here's your host.
Sara Brown:Hello and welcome to Change Makers. I'm APH's Public Relations Manager, Sara Brown . And on today's episode, we are at the APH Abacus Bee Yes, held right here in downtown Louisville. This is the second Abacus Bee. And today's podcast, we're just gonna do some roving interviews, talking in with some parents, some educators, and the Abacus Bee participants . After that, we'll learn about the latest Connect the Dots, powered by PNC Foundation event. Let me just get you to introduce yourself and let me know a little bit about you.
Sarah Vanderpool:My name is Sarah Vanderpool , um, and , uh, my daughter Evie , is a middle school student. She's a sixth grader at the Kentucky School for the Blind. Oh,
Sara Brown:Okay. So local. Now, what does the Abacus Bee mean for you, especially when it's watching your daughter participate in this? How does that feel?
Sarah Vanderpool:Um, it's really great to see her interact with the other students. Um, math has always been her favorite subject at school, and it's given her an opportunity to , um, do something kind of out of the box. Um, use her skills and develop new skills. Um, the social aspect of this has been really great for her as well, kind of get out of the , um, just regular school day and , um, have an opportunity to interact with other visually impaired students as well.
Sara Brown:So how has it been watching her grow, especially, I guess, maybe from the beginning of learning the Abacus to today?
Sarah Vanderpool:Um, it's been amazing. Um, she's always been kind of a tactile learner , um, giving her another outlet for that. Um, teaching her that there's not always one way of doing things. Um, being able to see her expand her knowledge and her skills , um, uh, she always, you can just see her face light up. She gets really excited when she learns something new.
Sara Brown:And what is your hope with her for her future? Especially as she's learning the abacus, she's gonna be growing up. How old is she by now?
Sarah Vanderpool:She's 12. Okay.
Sara Brown:So as she's growing up, she's learning things, she's learning how to advocate, she's learning the tactileness, she's learning the abacus. She's just growing up as she's becoming a future tween and then a teen. But what do you , what do you hope for her in her future?
Sarah Vanderpool:Um, I guess every parent we hope for independence for our child. Um, especially as a parent of a visually impaired child , um, it has been very easy to , um, kind of do things for her. Um, make sure that, you know, we're hovering a little bit more probably than a lot of parents do. Um, but this has really given her an opportunity to be more independent, to explore her independence , um, and encouraging us as parents to give them that independence and to , uh, to teach them the skills that they will need to be able to, you know, do their own thing as they get a little bit older. Um, 12 is a very , uh, an age, especially with young girls, girls that they are wanting to branch out and not have, you know , mom hovering around making decisions for them all the time. So this has been a really good opportunity for her to do that.
Sara Brown:And then my final question, is there anything else you wanna say, whether it be about Abacus Bee or anything that your daughter Evie has learned or anything overall?
Sarah Vanderpool:Um, I just appreciate this opportunity , um, for American Printing House providing this for , uh, the students and for the families. Um, this just the , uh, presentations that the parents are able to sit through and meet other parents, kind of going through the same things that we are as well , um, while the students are , uh, doing their thing. Um, it , it's been really great opportunity and we really appreciate it.
Sara Brown:Okay. Well thank you so much for talking to me during Abacus Bee.
Sarah Vanderpool:Thank you very much.
Sara Brown:Can I just get you to introduce yourself and let me know your name and the name of your child?
Mary Herod:Yep. My name is Mary Herod . My daughter's McKenna Herod .
Sara Brown:Okay. Well, welcome to Abacus Bee. Um, as a parent, can you talk about what the Abacus Bee means for you watching your child compete?
Mary Herod:Um, it's been a great experience. I personally was never good at math. Um, but it , I have loved to see her love of math grow. In the beginning it was something that she struggled with. Um, but there has been a big push on the emphasis of math and science , um, and through APH and their products and their services. So I've really enjoyed seeing her just really have fun with math.
Sara Brown:And how does it feel watching your child just grow? Do you feel like she's benefiting from learning all of this STEM? Honestly, this is leading into STEM, like you said. Do you feel that she's growing? How's she benefiting from this?
Mary Herod:Yes, I do think she has grown a lot in , in this area. Um , where she initially was kind of nervous to compete. She, her confidence with math has really grown. And it's even just making it more of a passion of hers that it's, you know, that I would not have expected several years ago. So.
Sara Brown:And how old is your child?
Mary Herod:She is , uh, 14. And she's 14 and she's in eighth grade.
Sara Brown:Oh, okay. Now talk about, she's a teenager. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . How is she, what is she looking towards in the future? What is she thinking about going to maybe for college?
Mary Herod:She's not yet , um, has decided, but , um, she definitely want , loves science. Um, so she wants something in the science field but hasn't really identified what yet. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> . So ,
Sara Brown:And is there anything else you'd like to say about Abacus Bee, whether it be overall, whether it be about learning about the Abacus Bee, increasing or improving your math skills, anything about the program that you'd like to share with us?
Mary Herod:I think it's been a great program, not only because of the emphasis of the importance of math and making math fun and using the Abacus um, and learning that, 'cause that was something that was introduced to her in her elementary years. And, you know, I , I wish I would've learned it too. <laugh>, same here , but it's also, she's grown a lot socially. Um, I've seen her be able to, you know, connect in a social way to be able to connect with students across the country. She's met several people from other states and has really enjoyed the social aspect as well.
Sara Brown:Wonderful. Well thank you so much for talking to me today on Change Makers . Alright , thank you. So let me get you to introduce yourself and let us know what you're doing here, mainly for APH and the Abacus Bee.
Melisa Matthews:Yes. My name is Melisa Matthews and yesterday I had an a table in the exhibit hall and I was meeting with parents and sharing stories and ideas with them yesterday. And then today I gave a presentation about being a parent and what that looks like, preparing your student and your child for leaving the home after high school.
Sara Brown:Wow. And this has been a big few days for, for everybody here, especially at APH, but for just in preparation and , and for this advocacy . Talk about how this one is going this year because this is the second one, right? This is the second advocacy .
Melisa Matthews:This is the first one that I've been to. And I can tell you from a parental standpoint, it's been amazing having space for parents to connect and build their tribe and build their network of support as well as the kids. You know, being able to connect with other children who are blind or low vision . So I am super proud and excited that this continues to grow and this village and tribe gets bigger for each, the students and the parents.
Sara Brown:Now have you heard any feedback from the students or parents on the Abacus B ? What are some of the things that you're hearing?
Melisa Matthews:I think from the parents, it's just being aware as to all the different departments of APH 'cause they're not aware. And even more so after my presentation, just hearing, you know, from them, I'm kind of on the right path. Here's what I'm thinking, here's what I am doing, here's what I can implement. But more than that is when given the break to talk to their neighbors, it was not quiet. So they were engaging with each other and building their tribe.
Sara Brown:And that's what we love to hear. Now, is there anything else you wanna say about Abacus Bee? Whether it be about the students, the parents, or just the overall program? Anything you wanna share before I let you go?
Melisa Matthews:I'm just excited to see where this goes next year and hopefully I will have a child at this next chair.
Sara Brown:Oh my gosh. Well we look forward to seeing her. Well thank you so much Melisa.
Melisa Matthews:Thank you Sara.
Sara Brown:Introduce yourself and let us know who you are here at APH and for the Abacus Bee.
Jennifer Brooks:Hi, I'm Jennifer Brooks. I am the North Central Outreach Specialist with APH. And welcome to Abacus Bee Central.
Sara Brown:So I've interviewed you previously about Abacus Bee. How does it feel to see Abacus Bee actually in action right now?
Jennifer Brooks:We are having a blast. We are having so much fun. Uh , this is math pun and math joke Central. Uh , we have been throwing them out left and right and I swear I've had no eye rolls or groans or , uh, "Miss Jenn" at my wonderful joke . So I have one for you.
Sara Brown:Okay, go ahead.
Jennifer Brooks:All right, so what did the acorn say when he grew up?
Sara Brown:And it's math positive too? What did the acorn say when he grew up? I don't know when . Oh, okay. No , I don't know .
Jennifer Brooks:"Gee, I'm a tree..." Geometry
Sara Brown:<laugh>. I love it. I love it. That's a good one. Geometry
Jennifer Brooks:Tree . I'm a tree <laugh>.
Sara Brown:See, I was trying to incorporate like an abacus in there. I'm thinking, okay, "what did he do?" No, I love that. And everybody's receiving those very well, aren't they?
Jennifer Brooks:Of course. <laugh>.
Sara Brown:Yeah . Talk about seed , some of the, some of the kids in action, some of the kids doing their and displaying their advocacy speech skills. What does that feel like? You're over this event, this has to be a heartwarming thing.
Jennifer Brooks:Well, you know, there was one story from our, one of our regional events. We had six regional events at six different states across the U. S. And one of them, so the regionals took place in the fall and one of the students in one of the regionals , um, just did mental math during the regional exams. So, kept everything in her head since the fall to today and March, she was learning the Abacus and she has told her regional coordinator of the Abacus Bee that it's so much easier, <laugh> , it's , this is , "oh my God , this is so much easier." And she's learned it and she loved it. And that's what this is all about, is just bringing that awareness and putting tools to the fingertips of our students.
Sara Brown:Now Abacus Bee is underway. Abacus Bee 2024 is underway. Talk about, I know it might be a bit too early, but next year, what's in the future for Abacus B? What do you foresee?
Jennifer Brooks:Well, we actually had just a week or two ago , um, a informational session for new states who are interested in participating in the Abacus Bee. So we have about four or five who are looking into holding an Abacus Bee as well. So we are going to expand, we're hoping to attend states for the fall regionals of 2024. So if you wanna hold a regional in the fall, contact Abacus Bee Central.
Sara Brown:<laugh>. We sure will. And before I let you go, is there anything else you wanna share or say about Abacus Bee watching the students perform and your interactions with parents? Anything, anything you wanna share?
Jennifer Brooks:Clear your schedule, set your plans, and count down the days to our award ceremony.
Sara Brown:<laugh>. I love it. Jennifer, thank you so much. It's so good to have you back on Change Makers.
Jennifer Brooks:Thank you so much. One more thing, we just wanna send a huge shout out to our funders, Simons Foundation. Uh, we will, we have a link to the Simons Foundation on our website. Thank you . Uh , so check them out and send them a huge thank you for making this possible. We couldn't do it without them.
Sara Brown:Wonderful. Jennifer, thank you so much. Thank you .
Jennifer Brooks:Thank you Sara.
Sara Brown:So can I just get you to say your name and let us know who you are?
John Tracey:Yes. I'm John Tracey. I'm the Program Director for Science Society and Culture at the Simons Foundation.
Sara Brown:And you all are playing an integral role with the advocacy. Can you let our listeners know a little bit more about that?
John Tracey:Yeah, so we've, this is our second year supporting the advocacy and uh , of course we love the program. I think it's a , it's a great way to think about , um, how we engage folks with math. Um, and especially folks who are blind and low vision, obviously. And , and the way we understand it , Abacus is the primary way in which they, they learn math and , um, we're just thrilled to support
Sara Brown:That. Now, before I let you go, is there anything else you'd like to share?
John Tracey:Yeah, I mean, I think what I'll say about the the Foundation is that, you know, we're, we're focused on engaging everyone with the process of science. And we firmly believe that science is part of culture and that it's , um, it's for everyone and needs to be for everyone. Um, and I think the advocacy is a , a really shining example of that. It's , um, it's, it's really lovely. Awesome.
Sara Brown:Well thank you so much for joining me and talking to me on Change Makers.
John Tracey:Of course. Thank you so much.
Sara Brown:Thank you. Let me get you just to say your name and let me know a little bit about yourself.
Ryan Jenkins:Um, so my name is Ryan Jenkins. I go to the Maryland School for the Blind in Maryland . <laugh> .
Sara Brown:Okay . You're doing great. You're doing great. Talk about Abacus. How has it been for you so far?
Ryan Jenkins:It's been fun. I got the fly on the plane out to Kentucky, got to hang out at a pool, do some math work, play with a code jumper, look at code and go mouse. And I got to see some of the cool stuff APH has been working on, like the Monarch.
Sara Brown:Okay, that's our big thing we've got going on. Tell me , what are your thoughts about the Monarch?
Ryan Jenkins:It's Cool. <laugh> , my school has one Monarch in the entire school, so like getting, like, being able to see more of it today was really nice. Considering at school we can't really touch it. <laugh> . They don't want us to break it.
Sara Brown:<laugh> . Okay. Now how's, how's the day been? What are your thoughts on this? Abacus Bee, is this your first one? Yep . Okay. And what are your thoughts?
Ryan Jenkins:Busy but fun. Yeah , busy.
Sara Brown:Okay. And how are the problems? How , how have the problems that you've been solving been? Uh,
Ryan Jenkins:At first they were easy. Then they got increasingly hard. But , um, overall I think if I had spent more time and didn't try to go as fast as I physically could, I think they would've been easier. Yeah.
Sara Brown:Okay. And do you have any parting words for anybody that might be listening, wanting to know about the abacus? Learn about the abacus, try out the abacus that , what would you share with them?
Ryan Jenkins:Practice. Just constant practice. 'cause like, I forgot how to use it a bit earlier. So I practiced yesterday and today was smooth sailing. So if you wanna learn, just practice.
Sara Brown:Well. Alright . That's, that's , that's the key to anything. Mm-Hmm , <affirmative> . Well thank you so much for, for coming on and talking to me. I appreciate it. No , thank you. And , and good luck to you.
Ryan Jenkins:Thank you.
Sara Brown:Can I get you to introduce yourself and let me know a little bit about you?
Lison:Uh , my name's Lison and I have three kids. Uh , only one of them is visually impaired and he's the most amazing person I know, to be honest. He's the best kid ever.
Sara Brown:And what about you?
Tiffany Stevens:I am Tiffany Stevens. I used to be his teacher, the visually impaired.
Sara Brown:Oh , okay. So we got the mother and the TVI Nice. Well welcome to Abacus Bee. It's so glad to , I'm so glad to talk to you all. So tell me about a little bit about your story and your background .
Lison:Um, well my son was diagnosed back when he was six. He just turned 18. It was a big time rollercoaster up and down at first. He handled everything perfectly fine and had absolutely no problems with anything. And then it went downhill from there and back up and back down. And now we're doing great and he's going to college.
Sara Brown:Oh my gosh. Where's he going
Lison:Looking for you , Orlando? So I'm really sad and devastated, but I'm still proud of him and he's doing great. It's only an hour and a half away of course.
Sara Brown:And , and you are his TvI. Can you talk about, so you came to Louisville to cheer him on, I'm assuming? Yes . So talk about , um, your experience with what, what's your son's name? Louis . Talk about your experience with Louis during his childhood.
Tiffany Stevens:So , um, he first started out with a consult teacher. Um, and then she, she was my mentor kind of when I first started teaching. Um, and she said , uh, hey, this other county has a kid that's gonna need braille and the caseload will be much smaller than yours because she was covering the entire county , uh, console . So I applied for there and started teaching him , uh, braille and, you know, all of the skills. Um, and I don't know , I taught him for six ,
Lison:I think seven years , I think was nine when you first started.
Tiffany Stevens:It was the end of fifth grade and it was 10th grade when I moved. Um, so I am not good with fast math. Um, so yeah,
Lison:We still keep in touch. Yes , we do. Just because it was a long road and we've really worked together hard and she's helped me learn things about my own child. No , really. Now
Sara Brown:Talk about this Abacus Bee in which he's participating in . What does that mean? How has it been to watch him grow with the Abacus Bee?
Lison:It's been amazing. My son that has just now showed up right now, hello . He lives and breathes anything that's math related , so it's exciting to see him here.
Sara Brown:And since he has arrived, do you mind to just share your experience here at the Abacus Bee? Is this your first one?
Louis:This is my, this is my second finalist , uh, competition. Um, I've had a blast here so far. Um, everyone here is super nice, so that's a really big bonus.
Sara Brown:And how has it been, how have answering the problems and solving those equations with your Abacus, how has that been? Because I know it's leading to get you to use your mental math. How has that been for you?
Louis:For me, I, I, what I'm doing is I'm combining my mental math with my abacus. So I'm not using relying on the Abacus a hundred percent or my mental math a hundred percent. I'm combining them.
Sara Brown:And so as a student who's using the mental math, which is its ultimate goal, how do you feel like a program like this is aiding the students to eventually get to where you are?
Louis:Um, I think it's really encouraging and really motivating how all of this is helping. This is all helping a lot basically, is what I'm trying to say. This is really motivating and , and I hope stories like mine can help people that are younger because I, I I want to be inspirational for those that are younger than I am.
Sara Brown:And is there anything else you wanna share about Abacus Bee or anything overall with our listeners?
Louis:Um, tune in. Um , and I hope everyone can come and have fun with us.
Sara Brown:Now, one more thing before I do let you go. I understand you're going to college. Congratulations. You wanna share about where you're going, what you're gonna major in?
Louis:I'm gonna major in right now, just general mathematics. I'm going to Valencia College. It's in central Florida. Um, and I am gonna live there and it's not gonna be too far. Get my bus routes. It's gonna be awesome.
Sara Brown:I'm excited for you Louis . Thank you so much. Tiffany, the TVI and Lison, the mother. Thank you all so much for coming on Change Makers and talking to me. He's my hero. He's all of our heroes. I'm proud of him . <laugh> . Thank you. All right , so now we've got Joe Strechay. Joe Strechay. You wanna share just with our listeners exactly who you are and what it is that you do and what you're doing here at the Abacus Bee.
Joe Strechay:I'm Joe Strechay. I am a producer and consultant , uh, most often in television and film. I'm , uh, here speaking to parents and families and also the students who are blind or low vision competing in Abacus Bee, which helps to , uh, reinforce the importance of those math skills that are necessary for success. Math was a , uh, important part of my education for sure. Um, and we use those skills every day . And , uh, you know, the Abacus is an amazing device that I , I have a friend who works in finance and she just bought a new Abacus just like , uh, last week. We were discussing that recently. And , uh, it , it's, it was a pleasure to share my story with the parents and, and , uh, families and the lessons I learned along the way and allow them to ask questions.
Sara Brown:Alright . And you just gave a a , a presentation here for the parents. You wanna talk a little bit about that presentation? Sure.
Joe Strechay:Uh , yeah, I gave a presentation , uh, to the parents and families about my story, but with some lessons built in , uh, things I learned along the way , uh, but also just explaining that people, there's no perfect person who's blind , uh, that we're all different and we have areas that we excel in and some that we're not as good in. And then we just work to , uh, uh, get those skills and , uh, get better, but also , uh, realize just we have to get , you know, do our thing, you know, and , uh, and it , and there are a lot of possibilities out there in the world. And , um, sometimes people try to discourage us, but it's more important to encourage and , uh, provide people the opportunities, the more opportunities, the better.
Sara Brown:And what is your , what are your thoughts on a program like the Abacus Bee? Um, just seeing what it can do, where it can lead. What are your thoughts on programs like this?
Joe Strechay:I believe in any program that , uh, encourages students to practice their skills, whether in mathematics or reading or anything else , uh, that , uh, such as the advocacy where it in , uh, focus on math. And I would say math is an area that , uh, hasn't been the most accessible to most of us , uh, who are blind or low vision. And so encouraging folks to learn those math skills and practice them is so important.
Sara Brown:And before I let you go, do you have any parting words for the Abacus Bee? Um , whether it be, you know, what it can do, where it can lead any partying words or anything you wanna share with our listeners?
Joe Strechay:I, I believe in , uh, the Abacus Bee and what it offers and I think , uh, the future is pretty positive with the Abacus and , uh, the introduction of the Monarch, which is , uh, a dynamic tactile device , uh, uh, that it's , uh, 10 lines of braille, but also provides you images and graphing , uh, things that we, we didn't have access to when I was going to grad school and, and such like , uh, it's , it's a changing world and I , I think that technology helps , uh, it helps , uh, move us forward.
Sara Brown:Alright , Joe, thank you so much. It's so good to talk to you again. You too, Let me just get your name.
McKenzie Gibson:Uh , McKenzie Gibson.
Sara Brown:Hi McKenzie. Thank you so much for talking to me on our podcast. Tell me about Abacus Bee so far. How has it been for you? Uh ,
McKenzie Gibson:It's been really good. I managed to get through all the tests on time with extra time left.
Sara Brown:Oh my gosh. So what, what are your thoughts on this whole program? Do you like it, is it fun to meet new, meet new peers?
McKenzie Gibson:Yeah, I , I like it. I think it , it's fun to meet new people. Yeah.
Sara Brown:And so what are some of the problems? Have you No . Have you had any that have been hard or that you had to, you know, come back to? What has it been like for you?
McKenzie Gibson:I've found most of the math problems easy, but I'm good at math, so <laugh> .
Sara Brown:Oh, okay. So that sounds like we might need to move you up in the group. Okay. Now you said you're good at math and you're in middle school? Yeah. Okay. So what are you thinking for your career? What do you wanna be when you finish growing up?
McKenzie Gibson:Honestly, I don't really know. I know I wanna do something with like a , with the earth, so maybe like a geographer or something. Nice.
Sara Brown:Okay. And now do you have any words out there for anybody listening that's um, might not know how to use the abacus or is apprehensive about coming and participating in the Abacus Bee?
McKenzie Gibson:Honestly, just like if you don't know how to use an abacus, just practice. 'cause it gets easier the more you practice and if you dunno , if you really wanna come, you it should, it's fun and it's easy to talk to people, so.
Sara Brown:Alright , Mackenzie, thank you so much for coming and talking to me, <laugh> .
McKenzie Gibson:You are welcome.
Sara Brown:So would you just like to introduce yourself and let our listeners know a little bit about you?
Maggie:Uh , my name is Maggie. I am actually in high school. Oh, nice. I am in ninth grade. Okay.
Sara Brown:Now talk about your, your day so far. How has it been competing in Abacus B ?
Maggie:Um, a little stressful 'cause I think I under practice 'cause I'm busy with like everything else, but , um, this is my second time at the Abacus Bee at the finals. Um, and Okay, three rounds of addition . I'm auditioned out, I'm ready for multiplication and I'm, I'm really glad I'm in a group that does not do division. I hate division. Okay.
Sara Brown:Now do you have any parting words for anybody out there listening that might be interested in doing Abacus Bee next year? You said you've been to two. What about, what would you say to them? Um,
Maggie:I'd say , um, prepare, practice way more than I did and have fun.
Sara Brown:All right Maggie, thank you so much. Thank you very much for talking to me.
Maggie:You're welcome.
Sara Brown:Now I am here with the literal creator of Abacus Bee Leanne Grillot. Hello Leanne and welcome to Change Makers. It's good to have you on. Thank you.
Leanne Grillot:Very happy to have you here.
Sara Brown:I'm really excited to talk to you because this is your baby. This came from your mind. How does it feel to see it in year two?
Leanne Grillot:Oh, I , you know, amazing. And just hearing from the students how much they're enjoying doing math. You know, math is exciting and fun , uh, knowing that there's other students around them that are doing math, but then the teachers who are involved with them are learning stuff about their students. Whether it's at a school for the blind or an itinerant teacher, they're sometimes going, wow, maybe my students should be a dual media student, or, I didn't realize they take that long to solve a math problem. Or, so there's some strategy going on all at the same time, which was, it's a bonus that wasn't, the purpose was really to get students more automatic with their addition , subtraction, multiplication of division, so that it's, it's just fluent like you, like fluent readers. We want fluent mathematicians.
Sara Brown:Now this is year two, so last year we were in the, the Kentucky School for the Blind, and now here we are in a hotel. Look , look at that growth.
Leanne Grillot:Well, we did not want the Kentucky School for the Blind students who chose to participate this year having to do their finals in their own backyard. We wanted something special for them while most of the other contestants are actually flying in to participate. So we left the campus of the school, though they were wonderful hosts of course, and came to the hotel and have held all the parents are here, the event is here, the contest is here.
Sara Brown:And then I hear talk of possibly going to various places across the country. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Leanne Grillot:Well, we're trying to think about what might be best. There is no requirement that we're held holding it in Kentucky, though of course the American Printing House is located in Kentucky. There's no rule that it has to be here. So we might take it on the road if we start getting more participants across the United States. You know, this is east coast time zone and we have contestants from the state of Washington coming. You know, that's, that's a really hard time change for them. If we held it more mid center , uh, coast in instead of one of the two coasts, we might have a little bit better , um, adjustment for time change for everybody.
Sara Brown:I have one more question for you. How does that feel to see some of the students may be from the first advocacy to today's advocacy or just seeing the students utilizing and saying the word mental math. I've talked to a lot of students and they're saying the words mental math, and I know that's what your goal is. Can you talk about how does it feel to see that it has to be that warm fuzzy feeling?
Leanne Grillot:It's a mixture. So while there's a warm fuzzy feeling, I also , um, can tell by scores those students who aren't ready to do mental math yet and really should be utilizing the tool to have more accuracy. Because while speed is important in math, you don't get the answer right. You could really have an issue. And that means that they're not either taking the time to, to estimate what their answers before they do the mental math or they have gone to rely on too much mental math. Now we've got some great mental math students, which means they've built their skill and have been able to transition over. So it's, it's interesting , um, who has chosen mental math, but they're not quite ready for mental math yet.
Sara Brown:And do you have any parting words for this year's Abacus Bee?
Leanne Grillot:Look forward to this fall. We already have two additional states at least that wanna join us. This year was six. That's maybe eight. Hey, are there two more states out there that wanna join us and make it a nice 10?
Sara Brown:Nice round 10 . I love that it's, look at that growth. Look at that growth. So just from a , an idea to today, just amazing. So congratulations on a very nice event Leanne , and thank you for coming on and talking to me on Change Makers.
Leanne Grillot:You have a great afternoon.
Sara Brown:Now we're gonna learn about the most recent Connect the Dots powered by PNC Foundation event. I have APH's, Community Relations and Policy Advisor, Erin Sigmund here to tell us more. Hello Erin and welcome to Change Makers.
Erin Sigmund:Hi Sara. Thanks for having me.
Sara Brown:Talk to us about the most recent Connect the Dots powered by PNC foundation event that was held at the Louisville Highlands Shelby Park Library.
Erin Sigmund:Yes. The last event was on March, Saturday, March 30th. And it was an exploration into how do people who are blind or low vision read. So when we're focusing on children's events, we want to foster safe and inclusive spaces for those curiosities that come with , uh, learning about inclusion and access. And this was all about the curiosities around reading. How do blind or low vision individuals read? So we took a look at , uh, some braille technologies. We also got kids hand on hands-on with refreshable braille displays and other ways that , uh, other technologies that folks use to learn kind of like an electronic braille format. We also had some folks share about their jobs in the Talking Book library or talking book users as well as large print and magnification. So all kinds of technologies and resources that folks used to read. And uh, we even had some story times where students got to sit and hear braille readers read some of their favorite stories.
Sara Brown:And what's next with the connect the dots? When will the next one be? Do you know where it'll be held? What's the theme? What can you share?
Erin Sigmund:Absolutely. Our next connect the dots will take place on Saturday, April 13th from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the Iroquois Library. And fingers crossed, if the weather is nice, we will be outside on the side lawn because we are learning all about careers in sports and physical education. So outside we will have a large accessible obstacle course, which is highlighting several technologies that teachers may use in a physical education classroom to make accessible sports and accessible activities for students. As well as just inside the multipurpose room , we will have a goal ball demonstration with and maybe some chats with some goal ball players, as well as a gallery wall of athletes and hobbyists who are blinder low vision and incorporate sports and physical education into their everyday life.
Sara Brown:Aaron , thank you so much for coming on and talking to us about the Connect the Dots events.
Erin Sigmund:Anytime .
Sara Brown:Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Change Makers . I've put links in the show notes to Abacus Bee and the Connect the Dots powered by PNC Foundation events. Have a podcast topic? Send us an email and let us know. Our email address is changemakers@aph.org. changemakers@ap.org. As always, be sure to look for ways you can be a changemaker this week.