ASA Connect

I call your attention to Paul Rodgers' wonderful piece in the 25 August 2017 NY Times, titled "A Golf Center Grows in Harlem". Excerpts: "... the Bridge Golf Foundation hopes it will be a 'model for progressive gentrification' through its work with underprivileged and mostly black adolescent boys. ... 20 Eagle Academy students are avidly learning the game - and studying science, math and character lessons. The group's mission is to improve the lives and opportunities of young minority men through golf. ... The majority of the foundation's STEM lessons are designed around the physics and statistics of golf. The students explore physics principles like the magnus effect, a lift force that determines the flight of a spinning ball. They also design their own experiments to determine, say, mean, mode and median and the correlation between two factors, like a golf club's loft and the rotation of a ball. 'You learn statistics in school and you think that it's boring and why the hell are they making me do this?' said Veeshan Narinesingh, a co-leader of the Bridge's STEM program. 'But they see it in an actual application to something they care about and it sticks in their head more.'" To feel a little better about America today, read the full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/nyregion/harlem-golf.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0