Former NBA star Charles Barkley is following through with his promise to donate $1 million to a Catholic girls’ high school after two students cracked a 2,000-year-old trigonometry problem.
“We are forever grateful for Mr. Barkley’s gift and his support of our students,” said Pamela Rogers, the school’s president and principal. “His generosity supports the mission of St. Mary’s Academy and reinforces our commitment to educating young people.”
The first $100,000 installment was given to St. Mary’s on Aug. 30.
The story began with a math contest during the senior year of Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson.
“I wasn’t necessarily looking for a solve,” teacher Michelle Blouin Williams recalled. “I was just looking for some ingenuity.”
The contest required students to re-prove the Pythagorean Theorem (a2 + b2 = c2) using only concepts from trigonometry. The equation has been proven hundreds of times using algebra and geometry, but only once by trigonometry.
That is, until Johnson and Jackson tackled it.
“It was pages and pages and pages of, like, over 20 or 30 pages for this one problem,” recalled CeCe Johnson, Calcea’s mother.
Jackson and Johnson eventually found five new proofs for the theorem. But the two aren’t the only high achievers at St. Mary’s.
The Louisiana school, which was founded in 1867 and remains steeped in Christian values, boasts stellar academic outcomes for its students, including a 100% graduation and college-enrollment rate.
Principal Rogers credited the school for holding students to a high bar.
“We believe all students can succeed, all students can learn,” she told CBS. “It does not matter the environment that you live in.”
Gloria Ladson-Billings, a prominent education theorist, couldn’t agree more.
“Many of our young people have their ceilings lowered, that somewhere around 4th or 5th grade their thoughts are, ‘I’m not going to be anything special,’” she observed. “What I think is probably happening at St. Mary’s is, young women come in as perhaps 9th graders and are told, ‘Here’s what we expect to happen. And here’s how we’re going to help you get there.’”
Ne’Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson certainly got there – and beyond.
Ne’Kiya received a full ride to study pharmacy at Xavier University while Calcea, who was also class valedictorian, is studying environmental engineering at Louisiana State University.
“Mr. Barkley is thrilled to support St. Mary’s Academy and is very focused on transforming future generations through education and opportunities,” said a representative of the Charles Barkley Foundation. “He has a love and passion for what the academy stands for and how it is shaping the lives and futures of young girls in New Orleans.”
