Robert Vriesman

The popularity of calculus classes at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES) has skyrocketed, thanks in large part to a unique calculus camp that combines learning with outdoor fun and adventure.

Every year, seniors and juniors at LACES, a high-performing school that serves grades 6-12 and has an API of 897, attend the camp, but this isn’t your typical camp. It’s a four-day intensive calculus review session each Spring that prepares students for their Advanced Placement calculus exams, which take place shortly after camp.

Calculus camp began in 2001 when math teacher Robert Vriesman thought it would be a fun way to help students improve on their AP calculus exams and boost interest in the subject. And the idea has paid off.

Prior to the first calculus camp in 2001, LACES had only around 20 students taking AP Calculus and the pass rate was only about 20 percent.

Thirteen years later, 200 students enrolled this year in AP Calculus. The pass rate for one college-level version of calculus has been as high as 64 percent while the pass rate for another has been more than 90 percent.

“The camp has been a drawing card for students to take the highest level of mathematics that is available in high school,” Vriesman told LA School Report. “We grew every year from that first year … 1,000 percent growth.”

Camp meets every April at its usual location at the Lion’s Club Camp at Teresita Pines in the San Gabriel Mountains, about 90 miles from Los Angeles.

“This kind of relaxed atmosphere just motivates them to continue to spend these four days studying really hard,” said LACES Principal Harold Boger.

Students work together in groups, reviewing calculus problems from a test preparation guide. The adults who accompany the students — LACES teachers, volunteer mentors and instructors from other educational institutions — help guide the lessons.

“It is an extremely powerful experience that has had much more impact on students than I ever thought it would when I first began the camp,” Vriesman said.

Since calculus camp was begun, LACES has had a dramatic increase in the number of students going to college to major in math, engineering and actuarial science.

“I know this because they email me and ask if they can return to calculus camp to help out other students in the way that calculus camp helped them,” Vriesman said. “They are graduates of schools like UC Berkeley, MIT, Harvard and Cal Tech.”

Boger said that calculus camp has generated a new level of appreciation for the subject.

“What calculus camp does is bring in that average student who probably would not have taken calculus or spent a lot of time studying for the AP exam,” he said. “It encourages those kids to stay in the class, to work hard and to give it their best shot.”

The school has engaged in fundraising efforts to help pay for the camp and relies on donations from private organizations and other groups to keep the program alive.

The highest ranked school in LA Unified, the nation’s No. 2 district to New York’s, was the Los Angeles Center For Enriched Studies, which placed 19th in the state and 112th nationally.

Overall, the district had 11 of California’s top 100 schools. Five are charters, four are magnets and two are traditional schools.

Here’s the list of schools, which span all regions of the district, from Wilmington to Reseda:

• #19 Los Angeles Center For Enriched Studies also  #112 nationally
• #22 Alliance Dr. Olga Mohan High School also #147 nationally
• #23 Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy also #149 nationally
•  #31  Alliance Marc & Eva Stern Math And Science also  #191 nationally
•  #42 Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School also #247 nationally
•  #49  Alliance Gertz- Ressler High also #267 nationally
•  #63 Magnolia Science Academy – 1 Reseda also  #317 nationally
•  #75  Bright Star Secondary Charter Academy also  #364 nationally
•  #88  Granada Hills Charter High also #429 nationally
•  #92 Community Charter Early College High School also #441 nationally
•  #93  Downtown Magnets High School also #462 nationally

Tom Torlakson at LACES

State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson was in town today visiting the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies (LACES) as part of his week-long “AP Excellence Tour.”

Torlakson said the visits to high schools with innovative Advanced Placement courses are a “celebration” of a 10-year report from The College Board, showing impressive growth in enrollment statewide, especially among low-income and minority students. Nearly 41 percent of the 2013 graduating class took an AP exam, compared with only a quarter of graduates a decade before.

At LACES the numbers are even more impressive.

The popular magnet school offers 27 AP courses. Two thirds of students — that’s 600 out of 900 — enrolled in 9th through 12th grade are taking at least one AP class. About 40 percent of students take AP Calculus, and all 10th graders are automatically enrolled in AP World History.

It’s no wonder that the school is one of the most sought after LA Unified schools for students and parents.

Ellana Selig, Magnet Coordinator for LACES, a 6-12 school, told LA School Report that the school has received almost 1,200 applications for the 2014-15 school year. Only 240 were accepted into the sixth grade. Students in other grades are only accepted as LACES students leave for other schools. Selig says the school has a waiting list of 2,700 students still hoping to get in.

Acceptance letters went out on April 1st.

“You can imagine, my phone’s been ringing off the hook,” she said.