L 1 Chapter pioneered in Growing ST up Betty Jean Jennings attended a one room schoolhouse similar to this one in Point Lookout Missouri MATH STAR etty Jean Jennings was born on a farm in Missouri in 1924 and she had big dreams Her father was a teacher and a farmer Her mother was a homemaker Betty Jean was the sixth of seven children As a young girl Betty Jean dreamed of a 4
r 3 being an independent woman one day She wanted to stand out in the world Betty Jean went to school in a one room schoolhouse Students in the first through eighth grades were taught together Whenever she finished her own work Betty Jean liked to listen to lessons being taught to the upper grades This helped her learn even more Betty Jean especially loved math She was very good at it Her teacher suggested that Betty Jean combine fifth and sixth grade math into one year Betty Jean skipped a grade Betty Jean second row second from left poses with her Stanberry High School classmates for a tenth grade class photo during the 1938 39 school year 2 8 5
After completing eighth grade Betty Jean enrolled in Stanberry High School in 1937 She decided she wanted to become a nurse At the time there were not many opportunities for women who loved math But nurses use addition subtraction fractions and ratios to figure out how much medicine to give to a patient They also use math every day when recording vital signs Betty Jean liked the idea of helping others With this goal in mind Betty Jean and her favorite teacher Miss Madeira studied Latin together since many medical terms used Latin TECH TALK Lots of medical terms are derived from Latin so I decided to study Latin which wasn't offered by the school However Miss Madeira came to my rescue offering to refresh her Latin and study it with me I went over to Miss Madeira's house one night a week and sometimes after our lessons Miss Madeira would listen with kind understanding and encouragement to my fantasies and ambitions Jean Bartik
A nurse helps a doctor with a patient in October 1943 Nursing was one of the few career options available to women interested in math Betty Jean graduated from high school in 1941 She was just Sixteen years old She was the second best pupil in the school and she also earned the highest mathematics grades anyone had ever received at the school
