THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 1, 1995 TAG: 9510310131
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Education
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
RICHARD ``DICK'' ZICAFOOSE can still recall when he started college at the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary, which is now Old Dominion University. .
A counselor called the engineering student aside.
`` `Why don't you think about changing your major?' '' Zicafoose recalls him saying. `` `You're just not that strong in math.' ''
Zicafoose took that as a challenge, and he finally conquered the numbers - all of them, from simple addition to complex equations.
He remembers it well. And he also recalls that, for him, math was made easier by adapting it to life's problems. He used mental tricks like remembering that the ``12-times'' table had to be used in measuring and that it was easier to think of boxes half filled than to think about fractions.
Today, at 59, Zicafoose is passing his secrets of math success on to students at Smithfield Middle School.
When he retired - he worked for the federal government as an engineer and industrial manager - Zicafoose returned to his native Isle of Wight County to restore the family home and care for his ailing father.
But after just a few months, he realized he needed to get involved in something even more fulfilling. That's when he called the school.
``I knew I needed some regular activity, and I needed to get around people,'' he said. ``I did some work with an Adopt-A-School program in Norfolk while I was still working, and I enjoyed it.''
Zicafoose volunteered to participate in Smithfield Middle's tutoring program, which draws from members of the community. The program actually started last year, said Laura Cummings, who is in charge of it. It went so well, school officials decided to expand it this year.
``I've gotten wonderful response,'' Cummings said. ``We now have about 20 volunteers working with at least 35 students. And we have as many men as we have women. I'm hearing from the men that they enjoy working with this age group.''
Zicafoose works with seven students - four boys, three girls. He spends at least an hour a week with each. And one of his favorite students, Desiree Bennett, already is seeing progress after just a few weeks.
``My math homework came a lot easier last night,'' Desiree said recently. ``He shows me how to work with fractions.''
``Desiree is probably one of the easiest students I have to work with,'' Zicafoose said, smiling. ``She came in - she was forthright. She said, `I don't understand fractions. I don't like math.' I said, `We're going to turn that around.'
``It's already happening.''
Desiree, 13 and a member of Smithfield Assembly of God Church, wants to be a Christian psychiatrist. Already she has checked into a study program available at Regent University dedicated to that pursuit.
If Desiree continues working toward that goal, Zicafoose said, she'll need to master the higher maths. And she's lucky she has found a direction so soon, he said.
``At this age, these youngsters have got to keep their options open. It's amazing how many kids don't decide until they get in college that they want to go into engineering or medicine. They have to have the math.''
Desiree is taking pre-algebra this year, and, like a lot of her classmates, she's having problems with more than fractions. But she's working hard, Zicafoose said.
So are others.
``Whoops, we've got a mistake there,'' Zicafoose said on a recent school day, pointing at the numbers an eighth-grader was working on. ``You've added instead of subtracted. But that's OK. That's just busy work. You're following all of your steps.''
``I think I've got it,'' his student said with a broad grin, after Zicafoose drew partially filled boxes to illustrate the lesson.
Students in sixth through eighth grade are benefiting from the tutoring program, Cummings said. It's up to the classroom teachers to recommend them for it. MEMO: For more information about the program, or to volunteer, call Laura
Cummings at Smithfield Middle at 357-3021, or call Susie Krause,
357-9590.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Dick Zicafoose tutors Desiree Bennett, an eighth-grader at
Smithfield Middle School, in math.
by CNB