What is Kapan Math Club?

Kapan Math Club was founded in 2020 by the former winners of the International Math Olympiad (IMO), with the aim to bring world-class Olympiad Math Education to Syunik kids to inspire and grow the next generation of thinkers, problem solvers, and leaders. Since starting in 2020 with 40 students, we've expanded to 240 students in 2023/2024 educational year and 300 students are accepted for 2024/2025. Currently we conduct offline and online lessons in Kapan, Goris and Sisian, and plan to open in Meghri in 2025.

Why Math?

But why is Math important? Math is the keystone skill. Math is like a Swiss knife for the mind; it equips you with a universal set of tools to solve a wide array of problems creatively and effectively. Learning Math is an intellectual journey that is not only a matter of talent but also fostering a supportive environment and bringing in qualified experts to teach and give the right feedback and motivate kids to strive for excellence.

Just look at successful individuals like Tigran Sloyan, co-founder of CodeSignal (which raised $87.5 mln in funding in total), who credits his achievements to strong math backgrounds. Our goal is to cultivate similar success stories right here in Syunik.

Think of someone you know who excelled in the Olympiads and later achieved notable success—do you see a pattern?

Math=Success!

Our Impact So Far

Math Olympiads in Armenia are organized in three levels: municipality level, regional level (marz), and republican level. The winners on the republican level further get a chance to participate in the International Math Olympiad from Armenia.

Achievements: We've nearly tripled the number of students from Syunik passing to Republican level of the Math Olympiad, from 7 winners in 2017 (best result 2010-2019) to record 20 winners in 2024.

Representation: Syunik now ranks second in Armenia for Regional (Marz) Olympiad qualifiers, and first within the regions (marzes) by the number of diplomas and honorable mentions in Republican Math Olympiad despite being seventh in population size.

Goal: Our long term target is to match Yerevan's statistics of certificate winners per 100,000 population in the Republican Math Olympiad.

Why support the Kapan Math Club?

In order to have a happy and successful Armenia, we need scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and innovators to develop the STEM sector and not only, to come to that we need a generation of ABOVE AVERAGE MATH LITERACY. 

Below are 3 problems that we are addressing.

1.Educational Disparity Yerevan vs Regions

The 90% of all Republican Math Olympiad winners are from 2 schools in Yerevan - the Physmath and Quant schools with a total of 1,632 students (711 middle-schoolers); there are overall 188,112 middle school-aged kids in Armenia. Assuming 10% of all kids are talented in STEM, 18,089 lack opportunities to develop their skills and succeed in the Math Olympiad. Only the 711 Physmath and Quant students receive quality education and support. Syunik has 7,863 middle school children, and we aim to end this uneven distribution. We need to decentralize and create new Olympiad Math training clusters in the regions. Students from regions near Yerevan can be transmitted for quality education, while kids from far regions lack such options. Specifically, the Syunik region, a hotspot for border conflicts since 2020, is the most distant from the capital, lacking resources to create an environment for Syunik kids to develop their Math skills. 

2.Empowering Girls in STEM

We are dedicated to overcoming the outdated social stigma that “math is not for girls” and fostering a culture where girls feel confident and excited about pursuing STEM fields. One of our core missions at Kapan Math Club is to actively encourage more girls to attend our lessons and participate in STEM activities. Two girls from the Kapan Math Club won certificates at the Republican stage of the Math Olympiad in the past years, and they have become inspiring role models for their peers. One of our alumni, Jacklin, only studying at Kapan Math Club without any other extracurricular math tutoring was accepted to YSU Data Science, her state math exam result was 19.75, and she is currently working at Kapan Math Club as a video lesson content creator. 

3.Trauma Healing

Since the tragic events of 2023, The Syunik Marz has become a refugee center with Artsakh Armenians settling in the area. Most of Syunik settlements as well have become border regions with Azerbaijan that brings daily stress and fears.

We as a society must do everything to ensure our people's well-being in Syunik while also providing them with new opportunities for a bright future.

New Opportunities Create HOPE and HOPE is the first step to PROGRESS. SYUNIK PROGRESS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MISSION OF ARMENIA IN THE NEXT 15-20 YEARS, AND TIME TO ACT IS NOW. 

Heroes who made the project come true or our team members!

Our professional team consists of International Math Olympiad winners and highly qualified teachers who are passionate about teaching students and making a change in the community. 

Our Plans 2024/2025

Testimonials

One unique fact about the "Kapan Math Club" is that we focus exclusively on math education in Syunik. Math is a keystone skill that will propel our students' life trajectories impacting on their families’ and our community's bright future.  Parents themselves confirm the effectiveness of our lessons!

See Syunik TV report about KMC with our teachers and students 

We already got support from reputable organizations. 

Act Now: Support Our Mission

There is an old proverb saying that “The best time to plant a tree was thirty years ago and the second best time is now.” NOW IT IS YOUR TIME TO ACT. Our budget for 2024/2025 is 43 mln AMD or $110,000. To give you guidance on how much to donate to educate one kid we need approximately $360/yearly and we have 300 kids starting 2024/2025 classes from August 1st, 2024. Don’t think that somebody else will do it instead of you. If you agree that our initiative is important, show it with a real donation.

Sharing = caring! We can’t spread our campaign without you. We're inviting you to go the extra mile with us—please share our campaign on your social media platforms and DM your friends who you think will appreciate and support our cause! Use the hashtag #Successisinmath.

Join us in this mission, be part of the Kapan Math Club community, and become our Sponsor. Together, we can shape the future of the next generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. Every donation and every share brings us one step closer to our goal. Thank you for your support! We have tried to provide more information in FAQ section, if you still have questions please contact us!

FAQ

How we work?

• Since 2020, it’s the 4th year that Kapan Math Club has organized online and on-site math courses for middle school students from grades 5th to 9th. For 10 months our students have classes twice a week, the classrooms are provided by the Syunik marz administration. 
• During November- February we do extracurricular activities with the kids who have participated and passed the municipality stage of the Math Olympiad. Several Olympiad simulations are organized to prepare kids to the time constraints and hone their problem-solving skills. 
• “Kapan Math Club” is not only teaching math to students but also providing lessons for math teachers to optimize their pedagogical techniques and methodologies.
• Once a year for the most talented students we organize an intellectual game Math Boy (from the Russian word battle) in Kapan, students from Goris and Sisian also participate. This is done to keep their motivation and competitiveness spirit after the Republican Math Olympiad is finalized in February. 

How Olympiad Math is different from School Math program?

The regular school's mathematics program provides a solid foundation for all students, but it only scratches the surface of what mathematically gifted and passionate children can achieve. That's where the International Mathematics Olympiad comes in—designed to unlock the full potential of these young minds, it offers them a chance to learn up to ten times more than the regular curriculum. With themes designed to maximally develop a school-aged child's mathematical abilities through accessible materials, the Olympiad fosters advanced learning. While solving Olympiad mathematics problems and developing new skills, the child's mind evolves with proof-based reasoning and mathematical analysis.

Helper text for sharing on Social Media Networks.

We have prepared a small text that you can copy and share:

“Kapan Math Club is founded by previous International Math Olympiad winners and teaches Math Olympiad lessons to 300 kids. KMC has already 3x-ed the historical results of Syunik Province in the Regional Math Olympiads. Now in its 4th year of operation, Kapan Math Club aims to grow a new generation of entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists. I support them and ask you to donate by following the link #Successisinmath”

Where I can see the budget breakdown of the project?

Here is the detailed breakdown of our project for 2024/2025 educational year, please check our budget here.

How the number of students is calculated?

We have acceptance exams to Kapan Math Club every year during summer, at that time we know the number of students who have been accepted for the particular educational year, for example this year 300 students are already passed exams for 2024/2025․ Օur former students also need to pass acceptance exam, but they continue learning even if the result is bad, with clause that they will improve their results. When we mention in our programs the number of students enrolled, it is our starting number of that particular year. Olympiad Math program is more difficult than regular school math program, and we need to keep the quality bar, because of that we do intermediary exams and students who don't pass several consecutive exams have to leave our classes, if students have more than 2 unexcused absence during one month, we first talk to the parents and student, if the trend continues, those students are as well excluded. On average by the end of year we have from 30-40 % decrease of number of students.

How I can contact you?

Our emails are garik@kapanmathclub.org, aleksandr@kapanmathclub.org, kapanmathteam@gmail.com