“When am I ever going to use this in real life?” “How is this relevant?” “I’m never going to use this.”  Do those comments sound familiar?

While most math students complain that they will never have a use for y=mx+b, function operations, or foiling, students in Discrete Math, a new course at VHS usually see the value of the math they are doing.   In this unique course, students are able to co-construct the class so they are able to learn about math topics that interest them. The class is taught by Math teacher Mark Russo and only available for seniors.

Compared to other math classes he has taught,  Mr. Russo says that, “This class is definitely a challenge” because of the different student interests, the varying levels of student worth ethic, and the amount of freedom students are given and monitoring how they use it. Along with most students in the class, Mr. Russo agrees that Discrete Math could be considered more “useful” than a normal math.  He says that when he found out that he would be teaching this class he was excited and interested on how the co-construction of a math class would affect what the students learn.

Senior Michele D’Aries who is a student in one of Mr. Russo’s discrete math classes says, “It’s great that we get to have a say in what we are being taught!” S           Topics thus far have included codes, map coloring, the government shutdown, how to do taxes, currency rates, the cost of living in different countries, and the list goes on. These are all topics that interested the VHS seniors and that they thought would be useful in their futures.  The freedom they have to choose topics is great, but all topics must involve math.

Their first project was a statistics project where they were able to take anything that could be tracked by ratings, net gross, and polling. Some students did projects on TV shows throughout the years, movie and music genres, and even fantasy football. When seniors discussed the recent government shut down they learned about what a debt ceiling was, debated what programs needed spending cuts and saw how hard it is to reach an agreement on what to cut because of the chain reaction it can cause to other programs.

Discrete Math really allows the students and Mr. Russo have the freedom to pursue interests while learning and applying math.  The class is ideal for seniors to take because it gets them ready for college, ready for life,  and more involved with current events.