For Rick Schneider Middle School sixth graders Marco Antonio Maldonado and Pricilliano Mendoza, working hard at math is paying off as the students recently received two of the three annual student awards from TODOS: Mathematics for All.

TODOS works to recognize Hispanic/Latino students for their successes in mathematics. Every year, the organization presents awards to three students in grades three through six with nominees from both Pasadena ISD and Houston ISD.

“Marco and Pricilliano deserve this award because of the strong academic skills they both have in the field of math,” said the students’ math instructor Joy Santos. “These two students are exceptional mainly because of their perseverance and desire to learn and discover more about math.”

Eligible students for the awards must be Hispanic and must either demonstrate sustained success in mathematics, show significant progress in mathematics achievement, demonstrate leadership in or out of the classroom regarding mathematics education, have a specific “mathematics student success story” deserving of recognition or have gone “above and beyond” in some aspect of their mathematics performance.

Maldonado and Mendoza will be honored at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Regional Conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. The reception and awards are sponsored by Houghton Mifflin.

“It is indeed a pleasure to recognize these two students for their outstanding work in mathematics,” said TODOS board member and director of client development for the Harris County Department of Education Noemi Lopez. “Our goal is to recognize Hispanic students who show promise in mathematics and are leaders in their schools in this subject area. We hope to boost their confidence to continue excelling in mathematics.”

Maldonado and Mendoza are both in pre-AP math classes and are identified as Gifted and Talented students. They also both belong to the top five students in their math class. Both students consistently prove their hard work on their math tests with A’s.

“If given a problem or a puzzle to unravel, Marco usually gets the secret revealed right away,” Santos said. “He does this with humility and a smile on his face. Pricillinao enthusiastically tends to go out of the box and try different strategies to also arrive at the same goal.”

While the two students may differ in their mathematical strategies and problem-solving skills, they both serve as role models in their school.

“When students see their efforts are not put to waste and that they are being recognized for all their intense work, then the whole student population has a reason to do the same thing as what these model students are doing,” Santos said. “These two students are serving as models by simply doing what they now love to do—analyze math problems to their satisfaction.”

The students also submitted essays for their applications for the award, and Lopez said she could tell from reading them the students were already role models among their peers. “In their essays, their positive attitudes, their willingness to persevere and their goal mindedness are traits that were most admirable,” she said.

For Mendoza, his inspiration for doing well in math was his mother’s promise to send him to Harvard. In his essay, Mendoza stated, “… I started to struggle in math and was failing. One day, my mom said if I could bring my grade to an A average, she would do everything in her power to get me to Harvard. I began to take more notes and take my teacher’s tutorials, and before I knew it, my average was a 96. I made it.”

With math and technology becoming of higher importance in today’s workforce, Santos said it’s imperative students do well in math at this age and to be recognized for their hard work.

“I strongly believe any human being will only push forward when there is a reason to do so,” Santos said. “Therefore, in the case of these students, it is very important to establish early on in their life that they are capable of achieving something in the field of math. This will help build their confidence and trample down the invisible wall that prohibits them from thinking outside the box.”

Santos said it’s crucial for parents and teachers to collaborate in instilling in the minds of their children that math is relevant and not purely abstract as well as the confidence they need to succeed in the subject, and she said this award will help these two deserving students do just that.

“I have witnessed how my students have evolved from being timid to having the confidence to stand up and say what they think about how a certain problem can be solved,” Santos said. “Marco and Pricilliano both know in their hearts they are capable of making a difference in this world by someday being a scientist, which I, as their teacher, always encourage them to become.”