For the Love of Super Mario !
Allan Alvarez always loved video games and it was only just 4 years ago he professed that he was
going to earn continuous income from online gaming. Much to the surprise of those who doubted, he
has since used his God given natural talent and is now living in Spain and currently holding the World
record for Mario Bros 64. Allan recently was flown to Copenhagen, Denmark to share on his accom-
plishments in a planned interview to be aired on Disney. As perhaps one of the greatest Super Mario
64 player who has ever lived, he has memorized all of the thousands of strategies, shortcuts and glitch-
es required to traverse Princess Peach’s castle in the fastest possible time; backwards long jump with
the best of them and bound across stages in guise as the overweight plumber that is Mario.
His skill in the gaming world is categorized as Speed-running. Speed-running is the ultimate way to show off your skill. While cer-
tain games require talent to remember moves or perfect strategies, the art of speed-running arguably calls for even greater concentra-
tion and focus, with the smallest mistake costing valuable seconds and potentially destroying record-breaking attempts, as in the case
of Allan. It should be noted that the online gaming community is growing exponentially every year. Allan is quick to mention that
“The work put into competitive gaming is extremely misunderstood and underrated in the common world but with more publicity,
recognition and dedication from the video gaming communi-
ty, more people would get to appreciate it and realize that it
truly is a sport.” He further mentions that “it takes insane
levels of concentration, endurance, and mental strength to
play at top levels, all the qualities in sports except without
the pure physical aspect, hence why they call it E-Sports.”
Allan currently also has a large YOUTUBE following and
serves as proof that you can make a living off of anything
you put your heart into!
The Reggae Math Foundation
Education is vital to the development of the Caribbean region. Yet there are large sections of the Caribbean
population leaving school without basic high school skills. In Jamaica, there is a shortage of fully-qualified
math teachers which has contributed to a situation where less than half of those leaving the school system
pass CSEC math. Realizing there are many great math teachers who make math easy and fun, starting in Ja-
maica, Reggae Math Foundation (RMF) will be filming classes of these great teachers. Once filmed, these videos will be freely availa-
ble on their website to anyone who wants to learn math. This resource will benefit the entire region. Using professionally shot high qual-
ity instructional videos, the intent is to save parents money for tutors and external resources. “The more students learn math, the greater
chance for more rewarding careers. Towards this end RMF will be
crowdfunding on generosity.com in Summer 2017 for US$5,000 to
film 10 addition classes on topics for 7 th graders and 13 th graders. All
funds donated will go towards production of videos as this crowd-
funding platform has no fees. Any funds raised beyond the $5,000
will go towards filming of additional topics and teachers. Connect
with the Reggae Math Foundation on Twitter at @ReggaeMath or
Facebook @reggaemathfoundation.