North County’s Magic House of Math

Rebel With a Cause: Local educator and McCluer North grad Vicki Adams moved from St. Charles to NoCo in 2005, eventually founding the nonprofit Metamo4ic Math Center.

It’s a simple phrase, uttered by countless people every day, but for Vicki Adams, it’s a call to action: “I’m terrible at math.”

Research shows that nearly two-thirds of American adults have math anxiety. In fact, studies by the American Mathematical Society reveal that the U.S. lags substantially behind other countries in math comprehension, largely because students here consider the subject “difficult” and “uncool.”

Adams is acutely aware of this problem, and it frustrates her to no end. That’s why, in early 2007, this passionate teacher and North County native cashed in her pension and opened the Metamo4ic Math Center, a nonprofit educational “museum” dedicated to hands-on learning experiences that make math more accessible.

Pronounced metamorphic, the center sprawls over 3,000 square feet on the top floor of First Baptist Church of Ferguson, and its mission is to cultivate a greater understanding of mathematical concepts by showing students, teachers and parents that not only is math everywhere, it can also be fun.

Four large rooms, each with a different theme, invite visitors to see math at work all around them – in games, in art and music, even at the grocery store. Some of the 80+ exhibits, all of which Adams designed and built herself, also cover math history, with profiles of ancient counting techniques (including math “bones”) as well as notable mathematicians like Fibonacci, whose system of number sequencing ties math and nature together in myriad amazing ways.

Gigantic Geometry is one of the themes in the math center's Orange Room.

“We’re not state of the art here, more state of the mind,” Adams says of the center, which actively engages a variety of learning styles. “Computers can do everything we’re teaching, but this is more about people. It’s about teaching kids how to think, not what to think, because that’s what really helps them grow.”

An out-of-the-box thinker herself, Adams was inspired to open the Metamo4ic while working as a teacher in the gifted program at Orchard Farm School District. A fellow teacher suggested that she develop her own curriculum and start holding traveling math fairs, building on her 20 years experience as a seasonal craft show vendor. But then Adams realized, “Who says I have to go to them? The students can come to me!”

That was in 2005. By 2006, while still working at Orchard Farm, Adams had not only developed her own curriculum. She had also registered the Metamo4ic Match Center as an official nonprofit and launched a summer pilot program at Walnut Grove Elementary in the Ferguson-Florissant School District.

The success of that project encouraged Adams to dream even bigger, but it also left her unsure of her next step. “By March of 2007, I thought either this goes forward or it goes into the garage,” she says.

Take a colorful trip to the Base Ten Addition Hotel, where adding is made fun.

So, armed with a binder full of exhibit ideas and a goal of finding a permanent location, she met with city officials, local church leaders, pretty much anyone who would listen, with most of those people (myself included) not recognizing exactly how tenacious this brave, visionary woman actually is.

A divorced mother of two, Adams, 51, put herself through college while working as a school bus driver for the Francis Howell School District, frequently parking the bus outside Lindenwood University to run in and take a class. Earning her undergraduate degree two days before her 40^th birthday, the former stay-at-home mom and one-time Wal-Mart employee then went on to achieve her master’s degree in education and is now pursuing her doctorate.

Even Adams’ children, both graduates of UM-Rolla, are driven to succeed. Her son, who is legally blind, has a degree in engineering management while her daughter’s degree is in nuclear engineering. “I guess we’re not really people who shy away from a challenge,” Adams says.

Indeed. And that’s exactly what Ron Beckner of First Baptist Church of Ferguson must have noticed when he offered to give the Metamo4ic Math Center a home. “He showed me the third-floor space and I just thought YES,” Adams says. “Ever since, I’ve been continually amazed at how generous everyone here has been. They really get what I’m trying to do.”

It may look like your average playroom, but in this sunny space at the Metamo4ic Math Center, you just might learn about logarithms!

With the church’s support, the center has been able to welcome more than 7,700 visitors since it opened in September 2007, including students from nearly every school district in the St. Louis area. Adams believes the facility has attracted many people who might have otherwise avoided North County, and says that most leave greatly surprised by what the center and the community have to offer.

“Just as the Magic House has become a major attraction in Kirkwood, I think we have the potential to do the same here in Ferguson,” Adams says. “If we could get support from local companies that have a vested interest in creating future scientists and mathematicians [Hello Emerson, Express Scripts & Boeing!], who knows how far we could take this.”

Perhaps even as far as the former Circuit City building on Pershall Road, which Adams is eyeing for a future expansion. “Ideally, I’d love to have at least 15,000 square feet so I could really create the exhibits that I want to,” she says, noting her four-foot protractor and other super-sized creations. “I’d also like to see the local universities involved. Some day…”

The most popular room in the center, the Green Room celebrates math in the form of hands-on and often HUGE games.

For now, Adams is aiming to win a grant from the National Science Foundation, which she hopes will supplement the center’s meager budget. She’s also working on attracting more homeschoolers and scout troops, hosting another successful “Pi Days” event in March, and boosting attendance and donations in general – all while teaching as an adjunct professor at Lindenwood.

“The thing that people need to understand is that I’m not a mathematician,” Adams says. “I don’t have a degree in calculus, but what I do have is a love of math. I always have. And because of that, I can stick to the basics here…math in its purest, everyday form…the patterns that are all around us…and hopefully, that will plant a seed.

“Hopefully, some of these kids (and maybe some of the adults) will walk out of here and something will have clicked.”

The Metamo4ic Math Center, located at 333 N. Florissant Rd in Ferguson, is open weekdays 9am-3pm and Saturdays 10am-2pm. Admission for the general public is $5 per child. Adults and kids under 3 are free. Enter the building through the NW corner of the church.

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