DERRY — It's no secret that math can be a trying subject for students. Even the teachers will come out and admit it.

“We try to do what we can to help our kids be successful,” said Lee Dailing, chairman of Pinkerton Academy's math department.

A big way the math department has helped students succeed this year has been with the math center, which is open during all periods of the school day to students of all grade levels.

For the past two years, the math department ran a similar program primarily for freshmen who needed extra help in math.

This year, with the support of the administration and the math department, Dailing helped open the math center for all students at the school, and the success of the program has been surprising even to him.

“It has been wildly successful,” he said. Whereas the freshman math lab served only about a dozen students per day, the new math center, operating full-time in a classroom in the social studies wing, has seen that number jump to nearly 60 students per day.

“The center is open every period with two teachers there each period,” said Dailing.

In addition to the teachers, there are typically one to three peer tutors who help their fellow students during each period.

“We're here to circulate and help the students,” said math teacher Jim Harlan. “It has been a real big success, and I think it has been a real big help to students who are struggling.”

Harlan said he can see the positive results of the math center in his regular math classroom.

“The students know there is a place they can go if they are having trouble,” he said.

Students typically take advantage of the math center on the days before they have a big test or quiz, according to Dailing, but he added that the center is available to help students with any questions they have about any of the math courses offered at the high school.

Indirectly, Dailing said, the center may also serve as a way to help parents save money on tutoring costs.

In addition to the math center, Dailing said there is also one math teacher per day who stays after school to help students with their work. And beginning Wednesday, Oct. 17, the math center will be open from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays to help students who take part in athletics or the band and don't have the chance to get additional math help directly after school.

Students Kayla Stacy and Haley O'Neil were working with peer tutor Olivia Bogaczyk on quadratic formulas on a recent afternoon and both said they stop in the math center daily.

Bogaczyk said tutoring in the math center has helped her with her own work in math, especially when it comes to preparing for standardized tests.

aswift@newstote.com