Jay Ramaswamy by Diana

Jay Ramaswamy by Diana - July 2014 Scholarship Essay

One who values education, values the ability for others to improve, better themselves, and become successful. Jay Ramaswamy is a Math teacher that takes his responsibility as a teacher to the best level. He is always available to his students as well as students that aren’t his. He wants to spread knowledge to the world. He has his own way of seeing the world but his way of looking at the world can make anyone look at education differently. My “Math teacher” is more than that, as a high school math teacher he takes his job to another level. He assists students on any task he is of use to them, he spreads his knowledge about the world with his students, and lastly he never stops enriching himself with knowledge.

Jay Ramaswamy does it all. He is an innovative teacher. He never assigns homework in class. I have had him for 3 years. I have taken Algebra 2 Honors, Trigonometry/Pre-Calculus Honors, and lastly AP Statistics with him. He has never given an assignment in class, he sends homework by email. I never understood why he did that my first year as his student. But, I caught on by my second year with him as my teacher. He uses email as an outlet for communication. If we have questions, we have the liberty of sending him an email and our question can be answered before we know it. But, his email is used by students even further. He also serves as an advisor. An academic advisor to be specific. He consults with students around schedule building time. He also consults students on their post high school plans. He helps students find a college that can be a great fit for them. With his abundance of knowledge in that area because of his constant contact with alumni, he makes sure to ease the frustration and anxieties of many seniors. Like I said Jay Ramaswamy does it all. He helps students in every imaginable way but beyond that he also spreads his knowledge about the world.

Even though Mr. Ramaswamy is a math teacher, he is constantly reading and is always aware of the things around him. He is very well read and shows it. In AP Statistics, when we would be writing our analysis of different experiments. He would use an array of jargon that in many cases he only understood. He uses such sophisticated language that being around him makes me feel inferior in many ways. He does not let his accent and being from another country stop him from learning. As I said, with his email he connects with so many of his previous and current students. He reads articles from newspapers about an assortment of topics. He enjoys sending these emails to his enormous contact list. Mr. Ramaswamy loves to show his students that Statistics is everywhere. He is a Statistics enthusiast. He has dedicated a large amount of his teaching career to Statistics. He is engulfed by the information and how a subject can have so much relevance in life. As an example, he has sent emails about the “10,000 Hour Rule”. It was an eye-opener to see that everyone who is successful in many cases did not just become successful. They invested so much time and effort and they got their chance and then became successful. He educated his students about so many subjects, he never stops and we do not want him to do so.

Mr. Ramaswamy is a remarkable fellow because he knows there is so much more to learn. As previously stated he reads a lot but he goes farther than that. During AP Exam Review, Jay Ramaswamy knew he had to engulf his life with something else or the anxiety from the approaching exam would kill him. So he decided to learn Spanish. His class is always filled with students, and he would practice his Spanish with some Spanish speakers. He does not care if he does not pronounce correctly because he knows he will eventually get it. He has an amazing amount of persistence like no one I have ever met. He would email us in Spanish to practice because he knows that practice makes perfect. Being his student for three years, I know he loves to give a lot of homework. But I learned that I retained the information longer because of all the examples. I continuously practiced the skills so I mastered them slowly but surely.

Having had a teacher like Jay Ramaswamy, I can never have a teacher that is anything less. I have always had a special place for my education, but he has completely changed my attitude towards it. I knew I wanted to further my education after high school but I learned that I can never stop learning. I want to become a physical therapist as my profession but I do not want to stop there. I want to have a business degree so that I can eventually manage my own business. I will read articles in the newspaper so that I can be aware of my surroundings. Education is something that in many cases comes in a standard classroom setting but having met Jay Ramaswamy I know that we can be self-taught. We can learn anything we want to learn.