FULLERTON : Math Hot Line Wins Honor, $4,000 Prize

Fullerton College’s special math hot line has been honored as one of two outstanding programs offered by California community colleges, and the $4,000 prize that comes with the award will keep the program alive at least another semester, its creator said Thursday.

The Math Assistance Telephone Hot Line is a pilot telephone tutoring service launched by Fullerton College students in January. The California Community Colleges’ Board of Governors this month named it as one of two community college offerings to receive the first annual Exemplary Program awards, a spokeswoman for the board of governors said.

Also honored with a $4,000 award was El Camino College’s Project Success, which aims to help black graduates from Los Angeles’ inner city high schools who have dropped out or were dismissed for poor academic performance. The money comes from the community college system’s lottery fund.

The math hot line is now available to about 550 students in elementary and intermediate algebra classes at Fullerton College. It operates Monday through Thursday from 6 to 10 p.m. to help students with their homework. It is run by two student tutors who, besides being math whizzes, can speak both English and Spanish.

Pilot program creator Carol Oelkers said she was very proud of the award from the board of governors. More importantly, though, the project now has a new lease on life.

“Because it was a pilot program there were no funds allocated to continue it,” said Oelkers, a math instructor who started the project on a shoestring budget of $2,670. “We’re going to spend the $4,000 on the hot line for next year.”

Oelkers said she is now weighing whether to expand the program to make it available for one more semester and open it to all 2,000 students who might benefit. The other option is to continue the program throughout the next school year, but open it to about half that number of students.