Rhodes Scholar’s teacher-mom looking to boost student performance in math

Fitzroy Wickham, the 2021 Jamaica Rhodes Scholar who is now in his third year of his Doctor of Philosophy studies at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, has more to be proud about right here at home. The academic wiz’s teacher-mom, Florence Wickham, has opened the Wicki’s Math Clinic and Lab in Brown’s Town, St Ann.

The newly opened facility is now offering free lessons in Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and additional mathematics every Thursday, up to February next year, with the assistance of Fitzroy and his sister, Kimberly.

Wickham, the York Castle High School past student who was Jamaica’s top CSEC performer in 2014, and who is currently studying clinical neuroscience at Oxford University, told The Gleaner. “Words can’t describe how immensely proud I am of what my mother is doing. Opening her own mathematics business has always been a dream of hers.”

Wickham said his mother, who is a teacher at Aabuthnott Gallimore High School in Alexandria, St Ann, has been patient and has worked hard to establish the math clinic and lab.

“She has crafted each and every manipulative by hand, with love and care, to make understanding mathematical concepts easier. That’s the secret behind her success! Both my sister and I copped distinctions in CSEC math under her careful supervision and a whole host of her past students from St Hilda’s Diocesan and Aabuttnott Gallimore High Schools can say the very same. By making math less abstract and more applicable, she hopes to increase the CSEC math pass rate in Jamaica. More importantly, students can finally see that math can be fun!”

Wickham is encouraging persons to take advantage of the opportunity being offered by the facility.

Regarding his studies at Oxford, Wickham says: “My degree is in clinical neuroscience where I’m investigating the functional role of the brain’s white matter in human decision-making. I am also very involved in the Oxford University Drama Society (OUDS), and just this week, I was performing in a production of Medea at the Oxford Playhouse to sold-out crowds!”

Meanwhile, his mother, who is currently on leave from Aabuthnott Gallimore, acknowledged that her children were supporting and encouraging her. Prior to announcing the free math classes, she had been conducting evening classes with students from several schools in the region, including York Castle, Ferncourt, Brown’s Town, and St Hilda’s Diocesan high schools, two evenings per week.

The clinic and lab is expected to positively impact the performance of students in the CXC mathematics examinations over the long term.

In a post on Facebook, the math teacher mentioned the positives of the facility, which would be to help boost math education, while sowing positive seeds of success and giving back to the community.

Among the topics to be covered during the free sessions are measurement; statistics; algebra; relations, functions and graphs; geometry and trigonometry; algebra and functions; coordinate geometry, vectors, and trigonometry; introductory calculus; basic mathematical applications; and vectors and matrices. Classes are scheduled for Thursdays from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Harris Centre, 9 Main Street, Brown’s Town, but due to limited space, only the first 17 students will be accepted. The clinic and lab may be reached at 876-578-7359.