Alex Eiden, MKA rising junior and son of MKA Alum Frederick Eiden '78, helps to implement a national math initiative in Barbados
A huge congratulations to rising junior, Alex Eiden, on his accomplishment of helping to implement a national math initiative in Barbados.
Alex, who is the founder/president of the MKA STEM Team, a Community Service Leader, a 2015 Presidential Silver Award Recipient, a Tech Leader, and part of the Global Experience Leadership Group, is helping Barbadian children to have the opportunity to a free world-class education, anytime, anywhere to compliment their academic studies.
Inspired by MKA's Global Leadership Programs, Community Service Initiatives and his embracement of technology, Alex saw an opportunity and in 2013, travelled to Barbados to have a breakfast meeting with Barbados MES (Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation.) It was there that he addressed the "fear of fractions issue" that exists amongst Barbadian primary school students. In subsequent visits, a 3 school, Khan Academy math pilot program began, running consecutively for 3 weeks. This has now resulted in a national math initiative starting on September 7th aptly named: 2015-16 Barbados MES Math Initiative, which will effect 2500+ students in ten schools.
The program has gained national prominence with global corporate supporters such as Apple and Jetblue, who has offered recycled HP notebooks to replace ten+ year old computers the schools currently have.
On Thursday, September 3rd, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Senator Harcourt Husbands, invited Alex to a ceremony in which JetBlue presented him with the refurbished laptops which will then be handed over to the St Ambrose and St Lukes/Brighton Primary Schools in Barbados.
Due to the success of Alex's program, MES officials have embraced free online challenged based learning, with students studying at home on their devices to complement their pedagogy, resulting in the elimination of math encumbrances.
