{"id":23047,"date":"2026-08-25T09:34:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T13:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?p=23047"},"modified":"2026-08-25T10:02:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T14:02:06","slug":"math-momentum-jump-starts-incoming-indiana-students-academic-journeys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2026\/Q3\/math-momentum-jump-starts-incoming-indiana-students-academic-journeys","title":{"rendered":"Math Momentum jump-starts incoming Indiana students\u2019 academic journeys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. \u2014 Purdue welcomed 171 incoming students to West Lafayette and Indianapolis this summer for Math Momentum<\/a>, a five-week early start experience that builds Boilermakers\u2019 math skills, confidence and connections through courses and activities designed to support their transition into the fall semester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Purdue\u2019s priorities is to improve student retention and graduation rates, and success in math is key to timely graduation for many students, especially Indiana residents. New this year and held from July 13 to Aug. 14, Math Momentum provides space and time for students to focus on learning and thriving in a college environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While living in Purdue\u2019s residence halls, eating at the dining courts and taking part in social activities, Math Momentum students also earn seven credit hours across three courses. The experience \u2014 fully funded by the Math Momentum scholarship \u2014 gives students a head start on completing their degree; creates greater flexibility for future course sequences, internships or study abroad opportunities; and serves as a gateway to academic success for students across STEM and non-STEM disciplines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal is to be able to support their preparation for their next required math class, and we\u2019re marrying their math preparation with their college readiness experience so they are ultimately successful at Purdue,\u201d said Marquetta Strait<\/a>, University Innovation Alliance fellow and lead student affairs administrator on the Boilermaker Opportunity Program Plus<\/a> team. \u201cThis experience is really about getting students plugged in, supporting them and also making sure they see themselves as fully capable because they did a lot to reach this point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students selected to join Math Momentum are enrolled in a general studies course focused on developing higher education habits and skills, an additional course of their choice, and MA 190 (Foundations of College Math) \u2014 a class intentionally crafted as a segue into Purdue\u2019s math sequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The course covers math concepts both new and familiar to Math Momentum students and was created in part using suggestions and insights from instructors who coordinate some of Purdue\u2019s most commonly enrolled math courses. In addition to teaching essential math content, MA 190 instructors also share strategies for flourishing in future math courses through routine skills lessons \u2014 class time dedicated to sharing strategies for effective note-taking, studying and multiple-choice test-taking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amanda Manning, limited-term lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and course coordinator for Math Momentum, says the students in her MA 190 section \u2014 one of nine offered in West Lafayette and Indianapolis \u2014 have hit the ground running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have had at least two or three light bulb moments every class where someone goes, \u2018Wait, that\u2019s why that works,\u2019\u201d Manning said. \u201cI live for those aha moments; those are what I\u2019m here for. The students in my section seem ready to build that foundation, are coming ready to learn and are showing what they\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students like Nely Luna, a Noblesville, Indiana, native majoring in elementary education, agree that the material helped lay solid groundwork for meeting expectations in her future Purdue courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like it helped strengthen my math foundation, and it\u2019s always good to go back to the basics,\u201d Luna said. \u201cThese are the types of things Purdue\u2019s professors are expecting students to come in knowing, and it helped me a lot in that way. It has definitely made me more prepared for this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But learning math isn\u2019t the only factor in the Math Momentum equation; the experience equally emphasizes the importance of engaging with the wide variety of on-campus resources and outlets available to students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know that success is not one-dimensional, so Math Momentum is more than just coming to Purdue and taking our classes,\u201d Strait said. \u201cYou have to make use of the resources that make Purdue home for yourself. Imagine you\u2019re in a house, and you never sit on the couch \u2014 you don\u2019t even know if it\u2019s comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they live and learn on campus, Math Momentum students are attending information sessions, participating in college preparedness workshops, collaborating with peer mentors, taking part in study sessions and socializing at community building events \u2014 all opportunities designed to equip them with valuable tools, connections and behaviors that pave the way for positive outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the five-week experience, students like Luna grew accustomed to attending office hours and asking questions, while others like America Juarez from Elkhart, Indiana, appreciated the chance to identify and practice the study habits and methods that will propel her through the academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving these study methods and being able to test them out now during the summer while my schedule is a little less packed has been super nice,\u201d said Juarez, who is majoring in global studies. \u201cIt\u2019s good to know what works for me now, so in the fall I can immediately apply it instead of having to take extra time to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Math Momentum is a collaborative effort between Purdue\u2019s Office of the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and is one of a series of specialty summer programs coordinated by the Office of Summer and Winter Sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about Purdue\u2019s early start programming in West Lafayette and Indianapolis, visit the Office of Summer and Winter Sessions website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Purdue University<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Purdue University is a research institution ranked among the top 10 public universities in the United States. More than 106,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, including more than 57,000 at our main campus locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. As a land-grant university committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue\u2019s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n Media contact: <\/strong>Trevor Peters, peter237@purdue.edu<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. \u2014 Purdue welcomed 171 incoming students to West Lafayette and Indianapolis this summer for Math Momentum, a five-week early start experience that builds Boilermakers\u2019 math skills, confidence and connections through courses and activities designed to support their<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":23087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"department":[],"source":[29],"purdue_today_topic":[],"coauthors":[597],"class_list":["post-23047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","source-purdue-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23047"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23093,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23047\/revisions\/23093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23047"},{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=23047"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=23047"},{"taxonomy":"purdue_today_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/purdue_today_topic?post=23047"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=23047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}