Municipal Elementary School student Kayden Branch’s love of math has consistently placed him at the top of his class in the subject throughout his K-5th grade career. The 5th grader’s high math marks and remarkable robotics skills were rewarded at halftime during the March 14, 2019, Jazz home game at Vivint Arena, with Kayden joining the ranks of fellow CenturyLink STEM Excellence Awardees.
Since 3rd grade, Kayden has represented his school at the annual Math & Science Olympiad in Weber County as one of the highest-ranking kids in Krypto. Krypto is a quick-moving math game that applies addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Combining these concepts and five number cards, students must create a sum number on a subject card. The first one to do so calls out “Krypto!” for the win. He’s successfully competed against his Weber County peers each year.
This year, Kayden joined an extracurricular robotics club that meets an hour before school starts. His teacher, Mrs. Daley, reports that his ability to grasp the concepts and help his peers quickly positioned him as leader of the group. While many of his schoolmates are just starting their day, Kayden is already happily humming along at math and science, creating his own robot and gladly assisting his peers with theirs.
“I enjoy math and science and being able to help others learn it,” Kayden says. “I love building things and helping people fix things.”
Though he’s well ahead of his time, the math-mastering 5th grader hasn’t yet come up with the answer for how STEM will factor into his future. “I still have lots of time to figure out what I want to be, but I like experimenting with new things and being able to help people learn what I have learned,” Kayden said.
Congratulations, Kayden, on receiving the CenturyLink STEM Excellence Award. Keep up the great work—you’re truly an inspiration!
Utah Jazz STEM Excellence Award Banner | NBA