Crayton educator leads his students, S.C. team to success
By BILL ROBINSON - brobinson@thestate.com
John Rushman is viewed widely as a gifted middle school math teacher who has coached dozens of students over the years to great things in math competitions. He is going to retire after 32 years at Crayton Middle School, but not before taking S.C.Õs team to a national competition in Colorado. He works with two of his four-member team, Elliott Chartock, left, and Hardie Cate each morning before classes. Rushman still, after his 32 years, gets excited about solving math problems with his students.
Few school subjects cause more teenage angst than algebra and geometry.
Those math topics are a little less daunting — perhaps even fun — for students who pass through John Rushman's classroom at Columbia's Crayton Middle School.
"Welcome to the math world!" Rushman likes to say. "May all your problems be solved correctly."
Rushman is among the state's most successful math teachers, peers say.
His first-year algebra students rarely fail a mandatory end-of-course test. Most earn an "A."
"He's the best teacher I have," seventh-grader Andrew Proffitt said.
High school students that Rushman tutors after hours to prepare them for the math section of the SAT — the standardized test used for college admissions — typically see a 100- to 200-point improvement in their scores, he said.
On Mother's Day weekend, Rushman will accompany four of South Carolina's best middle school math students to Colorado, where they will represent the state in the MATHCOUNTS national tournament.
Rushman was named coach of the S.C. team by virtue of his students' performance at a state competition March 1. The Richland 1 school took home top honors, and two Crayton eighth-graders, Elliott Chartock and Hardie Cate, qualified to represent South Carolina in the national competition.
Joining them will be Sam Collinsworth, an Irmo Middle School seventh-grader, and eighth-grader Matthew DeAngelis from R.P. Dawkins Middle School in Moore.
'WE CAN COMPETE WITH THE BEST'
This will be Rushman's eighth and final stint as coach of South Carolina's squad in the 25-year history of the national competition. He plans to retire at the end of this academic year.
Beth Underwood of Dutch Fork Middle has coached against and with Rushman for 25 years. She calls him "the consummate educator. He never misses a teachable moment."
"When a team member is competing in a one-to-one battle on the stage against an opponent, he sits in the audience working with other team members," she said. "The MATHCOUNTS Competition will not be the same without John."
Rushman, 56, does not hide his excitement about being the 2008 team coach.
"I'm big into this stuff," he said, rifling through desk drawers in search of old scoring sheets and other math competition material that he hoards. "It's kept me going the last 15 years."
A 2006 team of "Mathletes" coached by Rushman placed 14th at the national tourney, which had 57 teams from other states and U.S. territories. It was South Carolina's best finish in the event's history and earned the state kudos as "most improved" over a 10-year period.
"We can compete with the best," he said.
Rushman harbors no illusions the 2008 team will bring home the big trophy, but he is hoping for a Top 12 finish. He considers Cate and Chartock among the more gifted students he's taught in his 33-year career.
"You never know," he said. "They are very close to being there."
Both boys are working 400 extra problems a week to prepare for the national tournament.
"Practice leads to comfort," Rushman said.
A MOTIVATOR
Born to a family of educators in Carthage, N.Y., 85 miles north of Syracuse, Rushman chose the University of South Carolina to study business because it also had a U.S. Navy ROTC program. He soon switched majors and earned a history degree.
"I had no clue what I'd do," he said.
He stayed at USC to earn a master's degree in teaching.
History majors were "a dime a dozen" in the mid-1970s, so he took a job teaching math at Timmerman School. The next year, he caught on at Crayton, where he became a fixture.
"My abilities are motivational, not mathematical," he said.
Rushman's approach is traditional.
He drills students with lots of problems that he and students work together in class. Many are eager to show off their answers on white boards.
A typical homework assignment in Rushman's class includes an additional 20 problems each night.
Rushman rarely stands still, navigating the aisles like he's solving a maze, stopping to offer students encouragement.
"All they want is someone to care about them," he said.
And they notice.
"He treats you like you are one of his kids," seventh-grader Cally Morrell said.
Jim Manning, a freshman math major at the University of South Carolina, said, "He's one of the most energetic people I've ever met."
"He is, probably, personally responsible for instilling in me the love for math that I do have — and inspiring me to get involved and stay involved in math."
Students of all math talents seek out Rushman. An eighth-grader he previously taught recently asked for help, and the next day the two were working problems before the start of classes.
"John's record speaks for itself," said Randy Hurtt, a former colleague now teaching at A.C. Flora High. "He is that rare individual who is able to really connect with students, and the payback is evident in his multiple successes."
Patrick Rybarczyk, who student-taught under Rushman before landing a job at Flora, considers him a mentor.
"He has given me the motivation and tools to be the teacher and coach that I am today," Rybarczyk said.
'THE TREE TRUNK OF ALL MATH'
Algebra is an "abstract subject" that Rushman acknowledges students have trouble grasping.
Grasping algebra is important, he said, because "it is the tree trunk of all math. All other branches come from that trunk."
Chartock and Cate arrive well before the first morning bell each day to practice problems like those they will see at the national tournament.
During one session, the trio solved a particularly difficult question — triggering a little dance the coach calls his "Rushman shuffle." The boys chuckled and rolled their eyes. They've seen it before.
Their laughter sustains him, Rushman said.
Both boys are keenly aware of Crayton's reputation for producing award-winning math students.
Chartock, who moved to Columbia two years ago from Massachusetts, said his research showed, "When he coaches, South Carolina does well in the nationals. I'm lucky to have him as my coach."
Rushman has the ability to explain difficult math problems "in a fun way," Cate said. "He knows shortcuts ... things that aren't in the textbooks."
Cate said he approached this year's state competition with one goal: "I was trying to make sure Mr. Rushman got to go to the finals (in) his last year."
Rushman sensed this year's Crayton team would be competitive. "I knew the students were doing this just not for themselves but for me, too."
Reach Robinson at (803) 771-8482.
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