Boys & Girls Club Blog

Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh member Byron Little, Jr. participated in the third annual NBA Math Hoops National Championship in California’s San Francisco Bay Area, hosted by Learn Fresh and the Golden State Warriors on May 10-12, 2019. 20 students from across the United States were selected from a national population of 1,700 qualifiers, and over 50,000 national participants in the NBA Math Hoops program.

The students collectively represented 17 NBA and WNBA franchises, 18 different geographic regions, and hailed from many of the nation’s most prominent academic institutions for young learners. The School District of Philadelphia, San Francisco Unified School District, and Boys & Girls Clubs in multiple cities were all represented by the selected students.

Byron, a fifth grader who attends Merrill Elementary, made it into the “elite eight,” during the competition and had an amazing time participating in the Math Hoops program after school at the Boys & Girls Club this past year.

Byron shared that “The plane ride and the competition were a lot of fun and I received too much cool NBA swag to mention. I’m so glad I got to participate.”

Throughout National Championship weekend, students engaged with prominent institutions in Northern California. As the event’s primary sponsor, the Golden State Warriors hosted guests throughout the weekend, engaging them in multiple events that highlighted the team’s world-class facilities and talent. The Sacramento Kings, who are a Learn Fresh partner, contributed to programming throughout the weekend.

The University of California and the Exploratorium ran unique sessions that connect STEM learning and sports, while exposing the students to higher-level academic environments. A hands-on activation was hosted by Hasbro to engage students in community service, through the company’s Be Fearless Be Kind initiative. Hasbro, a founding supporter of Learn Fresh, also manufactures and donates every NBA Math Hoops board game free of charge.

On Sunday of championship weekend, all participating students competed for the 2019 National Championship title in downtown Oakland.

Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh CEO Marc Dosogne shared that “We truly appreciate the partnership we have with the NBA and Learn Fresh with this program and how it has helped some of our young people, and especially Byron, succeed. We look forward to running this program again next season and helping more of our young people improve their skills with math and statistics.”

About NBA Math Hoops: NBA Math Hoops is a basketball board game, curriculum, and community program that serves low-income students and students of color in grades 3–8, using basketball as a hook to engage them in STEM education. Through partnerships with NBA teams, education providers, and funders, the program helps students to improve their core math and social emotional skills while developing a passion for learning. These outcomes leave students better prepared for high school math and STEM subjects, and ultimately lead to increased graduation rates, college attendance, and diversity in STEM-related fields. To date, over 150,000 students have completed more than 100 million math problems through the NBA Math Hoops program.

If you would like more information about the 2019 NBA Math Hoops National Championship, please call Nick Monzi at 845-240-0885, or email nick@learnfresh.org.