“Fear math no more” is the motto used for the afternoon programme Planet Math, which is located on Park Road in Hamilton.

Sergio Pitcher, the founder, combined his passion for mathematics and his love of teaching to introduce the programme which started eleven years ago in St George’s.

The original name was By the The Numbers and, having had success and positive feedback, he decided to introduce the second location.

Teaching has been a part of Mr Pitcher’s life for over a decade.

“I have been tutoring at Bermuda College for eight years and teaching since 2001,” he said.

He believes in helping children in Bermuda succeed in a global community.

“I want people to stop having this fear of math and to understand how useful math is to our everyday life.”

Teamwork is important to him and he believes he could not do it without the help of his staff.

Kevin Warner is co-founder and the financial adviser of Planet Math. He said: “Sergio had asked me for about a year to embark on this journey with him in opening a second location in Hamilton. The demands of life were hectic for me during that time, [but] I am in a much better space now.”

He added: “I felt like he needed someone like me to support his dreams and help bring it to fruition. His willingness and determination to get this started says a lot of his character.”

There are over 30 students who receive tutoring at each location. An end of summer boot camp was started a few weeks before the new school year to help students gain confidence before returning back to school.

Mr Pitcher said: “The students was excited and by the time the camp was finished they were ready for the new school year.”

The Planet Math team did not stop there, once schools started back Mr Pitcher and tutors created a family fun activity for middle to primary school students.

“When school did start we did a back-to-school family fun activity where I had one for primary schools and one for middle schools. It was the same activity, but the middle schools had more in-depth questions. Once I received and marked the papers, I was happy with the results and all students received prizes that were given to us by our sponsors.

Mr Pitcher also wants to help local children by doing a community outreach programme where he tutors one child for a year free of charge.

“I plan to continue this outreach programme and the next student I will get will be chosen by teachers,” he said.

When asked why they had decided on the name Planet Math, Mr Pitcher said he wanted something unique.

“I thought, let’s create a logo with math symbols with each symbol representing a city or country, for example Geo City represents geometry, Stats Island represents statistics, Algebrainia meaning algebra, [and] there is Numbers Nation. They all unite and form Planet Math.”

The new location is also trendy and artistic with bright colours and paintings of planets, rockets and numbers on the walls with help from Gavin Carter, creative director at Planet Math.

He was approached by Mr Pitcher, who explained the concept of what he wanted to achieve.

Mr Carter said: “I thought it was a good idea. Once he described what he wanted I saw his vision and visited the building and said ‘What a canvass’. I believe that if children are going to learn they are going to learn in an environment that stimulates the mind towards the activity, I said, let’s do it.

“He gave me the freedom to expand on his ideas how I wanted. I fell in love with it.

Mr Pitcher would like to thank all the tutors and staff for dedicating their time.

“I would like to thank tutors, Maura Almeida, Crystal Trott, Darmell Jones, Demetria Packwood, Shar-Dar Whitter. Tutor assistants, Kyrie Parfitt, Khaleel Daley, Nathanial Fubler and other members of staff.

He would also like to thank his sponsors for lending a helping hand.

Planet Math is planning on having a multiplication boot camp from today until Thursday at 4 Park Road, running each day from 4pm to 5pm.

For more information, contact Planet Math on 707-1412, or e-mail planetmathbda@gmail.com.