By Xinming Simon Guo, Go and Math Academy, Chicago

This week marks the end of the 2025–2026 school year for Bell School in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district. After successfully introducing Go as an enrichment class for 7th and 8th graders this year, the school plans to continue the program next year.

Bell is a large K–8 school serving about 1,000 students. My journey here began in 2012, collaborating with Chinese language teacher Bin Qiao. Thanks to strong support from the school's leadership over the years, Friends of Bell (the local parent-teacher organization), and the CPS Central Office's Chinese Artist in Residence program, I have been able to teach Go to 80% of the classes across the entire school every year. The impact goes far beyond the school walls: students frequently ask parents for Go sets as holiday gifts, and many enthusiastically share the game with their siblings at home.

This year marked a major milestone for the program. While Go had long been a popular cultural workshop feature and after-school program, Principal Ashley Reyes elevated its status by integrating it directly into the school’s academic schedule as a formal enrichment class for 7th and 8th graders, selecting Go for the Chinese language and art track. Throughout the year, 138 students participated across four groups, with each group taking the Go class daily for a four- to six-week rotation each quarter.

Using the "population rules" framework I designed for educational purposes, even absolute beginners start playing on day one. The curriculum covers basic rules on a small board before introducing tactics and more advanced techniques on the 9x9 boards. Lessons also include game reviews, decision-making exercises, and watching the AlphaGo documentary. To wrap up each rotation, we organized classroom tournaments where every student earned a Go rank, ranging up to about 20k.

Mr. Qiao noted that the results have been outstanding: "The students show better focus, self-discipline, and mutual respect, while learning how to make meaningful decisions." This combination of student achievement, positive teacher feedback, and strong principal support ensures that the Go program will successfully continue into the next school year.