A precocious fifth-grade girl in Marion, Ohio turned to her local police for help with math homework – and not only did the police respond, but they attempted to guide her through her equation.
Lena Draper, 10, messaged Marion Police Department on Facebook, asking for help with her math assignment and surprisingly, police department lieutenant B.J. Gruber, who runs the page, answered her by advising that Draper work from left to right on her problem, solving the work within the parentheses first.
Draper’s mother, Molly, found the Facebook exchanges between Lena and the police, and shared screenshots of it on Facebook, where it quickly went viral with more than 2.6 million shares.
In an interview with CBS News, Molly Draper said that the kind response from the police was not surprising to her.
“I was happy, but not surprised that they responded so quickly,” Draper said. “They are wonderful with their communication with the community.”
As some users pointed out, some of the officer’s math advice was incorrect, but Lieutenant Gruber hopes that people will remember that “it is truly the thought that counts.”
See the full post below.
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Write to Cady Lang at cady.lang@timemagazine.com