{"id":242426,"date":"2026-04-09T19:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T19:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/242426\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T19:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T19:12:09","slug":"basketball-based-math-program-coming-to-willie-b-johnson-recreation-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/242426\/","title":{"rendered":"Basketball-based math program coming to Willie B. Johnson Recreation Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0234-scaled.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-122804\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0234-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Everson Walls\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\"  \/><\/a>A new program designed to blend academics with athletics is set to launch in Lake Highlands.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Math Skills-N-Drills, a K-12 initiative that teaches math through basketball-based activities, is coming soon to Willie B. Johnson Recreation Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The program combines movement and learning through structured basketball-themed sessions, aiming to make math more engaging and accessible for students. Sessions typically run 45 to 60 minutes and are going to be held twice a week after school.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to program materials, Math Skills-N-Drills focuses on improving both academic performance and student confidence. Reported outcomes include increases in grades, math test scores and promotion rates.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe use basketball as the motivator\u2014it\u2019s what draws students in,\u201d said Erika Smith in a promotional flyer. \u201cThere\u2019s a real \u2018wow\u2019 during the sessions. It\u2019s a lot of fun.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The program is open to students across all grade levels and can be customized to meet school or community needs<\/p>\n<p>An official start date has not yet been announced. <\/p>\n<p>\t\tShare This Story, Choose Your Platform!<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775761929_795_8ddafd819415d55fa9c7d86e7ec264373e8df34784422adeec47a828c58c2d8f.jpeg\"  class=\"avatar avatar-72 photo\" height=\"72\" width=\"72\" decoding=\"async\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSyra Castillo is a senior at Southern Methodist University. She is a freelancer for the Advocate and will transition to the Lake Highlands editor position after she graduates.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new program designed to blend academics with athletics is set to launch in Lake Highlands.\u00a0 Math Skills-N-Drills,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":["post-242426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}