A significant moment in Westwood Jr./Sr. High School math history took place first marking period. For the first time in his teaching career, every student in Jim Thomas’s AB Calculus class completed their homework every day, for an entire quarter.

Thomas’s AB Calc class, the highest level of math offered at Westwood, consists of 11 students: two juniors and nine seniors. The seniors, Tyler Andriopoulos, Christian Bergen, Olivia Beutel, Armand Charkhutian, Michael Gaglioti, Alan Miller, Pranav Muthuraman, David Russo, Maggie Sweitkowski and juniors, Christian Guma and Alex Pirola, are among the highest-level math students currently in Westwood High School, and are now history makers.

Thomas has been teaching various levels of math for 12 years at Westwood, including AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, Calculus CP and Pre-Calculus CP this year. As a teacher, Thomas claims, “You always hope that all students have their homework everyday, but you never expect it.”   

This event has never occurred before in any of Thomas’ classes and is worth recognition. While Thomas is thinking about a possible reward for the class, he says, “Some publicity is great for the class, or even me bringing in a snack.”  

Thomas felt that the thought of a student forgetting their homework, became a competition for the class. His students agreed. “Peer pressure was a huge factor that contributed to the classes success,” said senior Calculus student Armand Charkhutian.

As far as the future of the AB Calc class homework streak, Thomas predicts, “The students will continue the streak in the second quarter, but might hit a possible downslide in the third.”