Wylie Elementary School students worked on their math skills while helping ill children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital last month during the school’s annual Math-A-Thon.

Math-A-Thon is a free, education-based program for grades K-8 that benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital while helping children improve their math skills, said teacher Jennifer Johnson, one of two teachers who initiated the charity event at the school in 2006.

“The program is designed to complement existing curriculums while teaching students the importance of helping others,” she said. “Students complete grade level math workbooks. They ask for donations for each problem that they answer correctly, and all of the money is then given to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.”

Math-A-Thon generally takes place close to Thanksgiving to “help remind our students how very thankful we are for our healthy bodies and also to remind them that they can help other children who are not as blessed as they are,” Johnson said.

Teacher Lisa Suomala, who with Johnson started the program at the school, said, “We chose St. Jude because we liked the idea that our children could help other children.”

Math-A-Thon began with the two teachers’ classes, and since then the program has been expanded to the entire school.

“This year, a fourth grader in our school, who is also dealing with cancer, wanted to be in the Math-A-Thon video for the school assembly. So, we put together a short video where this child told her story and also promoted St. Jude’s Math-A-Thon. It was quite moving,” Suomala said.

Since 2006, the children have not only practiced their math skills but also raised more than $33,000 for the cause.

Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter for AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Dexter stories, see our Dexter page.