A common item on high schools’ supply lists is a graphing calculator, an essential tool in AP classes such as AP Chemistry, Calculus and Biology.  However, these graphing calculators range from 88 dollars to 132 dollars. Because of this, not many students can afford to get these which then doesn’t allow them to do as well in these challenging classes or even take them.

Brooke Rodriguez (’20) wants to change this. Last year, Rodriguez was tutoring students during ELP. She noticed a lot of students have never used graphing calculators or even had one. She thought this was unfair, that these students were at a disadvantage because they didn’t have access to the needed materials. So, she started a non-profit organization named Calculating for Success.

”I thought I should do what I can to try to give back to our school and provide calculators so they’re available for use,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez thought of the idea last year, and talked about it with her math teacher, Judi Charley-Sale. Charley-Sale helped her come up with the overall strategy to carry out the idea. Rodriguez also got Robert Bhoolai’s advice to make it become a reality.

The organization’s goal is to provide at least one classroom set for Robinson, available to check out for all students.  With the new calculators, Rodriguez hopes students will be encouraged to take more challenging classes and do better on tests like the AP exams, SAT, and ACT.

”I hope students will take more AP classes such as AP Statistics, AP Bio, and AP Chem. All the [other challenging] science, technology classes I want to help people perform better,” Rodriguez said.

To help fund Calculating for Success, donations can be made through PayPal and Venmo. Both are linked in the website.