By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

It must be nice being Nyssa Thompson's parents.

Her list of academic accomplishments is so massive that her mom, Lorraine Sakaguchi, keeps the paperwork in a huge accordion file.

The file shows that as a seventh-grader Thompson had the top cumulative SAT score in Hawai'i. It also shows she was a member of the state-champion MathCounts team in middle school, was one of four top scorers in the national MathCounts competition and attended summer camps at Johns Hopkins, Stanford and M.I.T. At Hawai'i's Junior Miss competition this year, Thompson won the scholastic award.

There's also the perfect 800 on the math portion of the SAT.

Now 17 and a recent graduate of Punahou School, Thompson is headed to Cal Tech in August.

Her teachers say she is proof that girls are just as good in math as boys.

It all started in the first grade, when Thompson was taking after-school Japanese language classes at a Kumon Math and Reading Center.

"I saw that everyone else was doing the math," Thompson said. "I just wanted to do what the other kids were doing. I begged and begged my mom to take the math classes."

Once she started, Thompson sailed through the lessons. The teachers started her with some basic hand-eye coordination skills, such as drawing numbers and working on puzzles. She asked for extra homework. She started working several grades above her age. Eventually, she dropped the Japanese classes and moved ahead with the math program.

"I was always ahead by a lot," she said. "I always thought school was kind of boring."

In second grade, Thompson finished 100 math problems in less than 100 seconds in a timed test. She had to wave her hand to let her teacher know she was done so soon.

Of course, her answers were all correct.

At 50 Kumon Centers across Hawai'i, 4,600 students learn the 40-year-old, Japan-based Kumon Method. It's a learning system based on having a strong foundation in the basics — addition, subtraction, multiplication and division — to build up to higher-level math. Students learn how to do calculations quickly in their heads and do worksheets every day to keep their skills sharp.

"It's like taking your vitamins," Sakaguchi said.

Thompson said she was able to move at her own pace at Kumon. "It's a good foundation," she said. "You don't have to be calculator-dependent. You can think about the logic of the problem instead."

Norine Iha has three daughters in the Kumon Center in Kaimuki. Her older daughter, Jandi, 15, started taking math classes in elementary school because she was falling behind, but learned algebra in the fifth grade.

Now she's learning trigonometry and calculus. "It's a different way of learning," Jandi said. "In school they want to you memorize formulas more. Here they want you to know why something happens."

Jandi said she wants to become a doctor.

Thompson is considering majoring in math.

And neither one says they are bothered by the male-female ratio in all of the state and national math competitions they participate in.

"A lot of times I'm the only girl," Thompson said. "It's not ever a problem."

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.