X Academy Presents: 2025 5th to 8th Grade Math Camp!
Ten years ago, a Santa Cruz family dreamed of creating the kind of math community their profoundly gifted son had found at elite summer math camps like Epsilon and MathPath. When they realized that Math Circles—a nationwide movement bringing together college faculty and professional mathematicians with pre-collegiate students for creative problem solving—were plentiful in the Bay Area, they founded X Academy, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing the joy and beauty of mathematics to students in Santa Cruz County.
Today, X Academy’s Santa Cruz Math Circle and Summer Fun Math Camp are transforming how kids experience math. Since 2014, over 500 students have explored topics far beyond the standard curriculum—discovering fractals, probability paradoxes, origami geometry, and the art of recursive design—while building friendships and confidence along the way.
This past summer, July 7–11, 2025, X Academy hosted its second Summer Fun Math Camp at Watsonville’s Sequoia High School. The week-long camp welcomed 50 students from across different schools throughout Santa Cruz county, including Ann Soldo, Amesti, Bradley and CEIBA schools, along with Scotts Valley Middle, Holy Cross and Soquel Elementary. For five days campers were immersed with hands-on math exploration activities. Campers designed tessellations, built geometric origami, explored coding and logic puzzles. The collaborative atmosphere fostered creativity, teamwork, and curiosity—showing students that math can be playful, social, and inspiring.
This year’s 2025 Summer Camp was buzzing with hands-on exploration—students programming fractals, solving puzzles, and collaborating on life-sized geometric builds. For many, it’s their first time realizing that math can be both artistic and deeply personal. By practicing these math skills it not only builds self confidence, but it also starts to put a spotlight on the students identity as mathematicians.
Led by renowned math educator Zandra Vinegar, VP of Systems Learning at Brilliant. org, the program would not have been possible without the energetic contributions of its Activity Coordinators from Santa Cruz area high schools (Kai Herbst, Gabriel Lara, Anahi Jacobo, and Nathanael Marcus) and Academic Coordinators (local teachers Michelle Baronia, Dallas Guerrero, and Math PhD students Oscar Murillo-Espinoza, and Victoria Wiest). Math Camp not only nurtures young mathematicians but also mentors early-career teachers in inquiry-based, joyful approaches to math. “We want students to experience math as creative, beautiful, and human,” says Vinegar. “It’s not about speed or competition—it’s about discovery.”
What makes X Academy unique is its focus on access and inclusion. Partnering with the Pajaro Valley Unified School District and the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, the X Academy welcomes students from all backgrounds, with bilingual outreach to families often left out of STEM opportunities. Over half of participants identify as Latino, and many are the first in their families to pursue college pathways in math and science.
As X Academy enters its next decade, its mission remains clear:
To make the beauty of mathematics accessible to every student—no matter their zip code, background, or financial means.
Special Thanks:
This work would not be possible without the generous support of our funding partners:
The Math Association of America’s NEFF Outreach Grant for $10,000, the PVUSD Expanded Learning Program, CEIBA College Prep, and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation. Their commitment helps us continue building joyful, inclusive spaces where all students can explore the wonder of mathematics.
