Students at St. William the Abbot in Seaford raised $4,807.87 this year for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The money was raised through participation in the hospital's "MathA-Thon" which is an educationallybased fund raising program.

Math-A-Thon challenges students to improve their math skills while learning the importance of helping children who are less fortunate than themselves. Students have family, friends and neighbors sponsor them for each problem that they answer correctly.

The student then completes the Math-A-Thon Funbook or CD rom by solving a variety of math problems including hidden messages, puzzles and pure arithmetic operations. Students also participate via the web and learn to create their own web page, monitor their success, e-mail sponsors, and print reports.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases.

"We are very proud of our students for working so hard on the Math-AThon," said St. William's Program Coordinator and teacher, Fran Warga. "With their help, St. Jude Hospital will be able to create new treatments that may one day lead to a cure for many forms of cancer that will benefit the children of our state, our country, and around the world. It takes all of us to make a difference in the lives of children with cancer, and we can feel proud of our response."

The school has participated in the Math-A-Thon program for the last five years and has raised a total of $26, 260.89.