Since early September, seven eighth-grade students have been at De La Salle Collegiate every morning, taking an Algebra 1 class with DLS Math teacher Joe Novak, ‘03. The class is free and covers not only Algebra topics but also some preparation for the upcoming High School Placement Test. 

The students, all boys, are from St. Germaine (one student), St. Isaac Jogues (three students), and St. Thecla (three students) schools. 

Novak is pleased with the group’s progress. 

“The class is off to a great start,” he said. “The parents have been very supportive and always get their boys to school before 7 a.m .” 

He added, “And the boys are really working hard and getting a good feel for how a high school math class is.”

The students are dropped off each morning by their parents, or, in the case of the St. Thecla group, by one student’s grandfather who also returns the students to St. Thecla. 

DLS provides transportation to St. Germaine and St. Isaac Jogues after the class finishes at 7:45 a.m. 

Novak will email a grade at the end of each quarter to the student’s respective math teachers, a grade which then becomes part of their overall report card. 

Novak has taught a variety of students from third through eighth grade during summer camps at DLS, but this is the first time he is teaching eighth-graders in a classroom setting.

A teacher at DLS since 2007, Novak is a graduate of John Carroll University. He chairs the DLS Math Department , and currently teaches Advanced Algebra 2, Honors Pre-Calculus, and Advanced Placement Calculus BC. 

Married since 2010, Novak is the father of two boys, a third-grader and a kindergarten student.