Sharing my Passion for Mathematics by Matthew

Sharing my Passion for Mathematics by Matthew - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

Mathematics, the language of the universe; my favorite subject, in which I hope to someday research. If my current academic roles were reversed, I would become a mathematics professor. My life goal is to teach mathematics and try to fight it’s negative stigma. Math is beautiful and I would love to share my knowledge with curious and aspiring students.

I enjoy tutoring students in math, and have encouraged elementary students to join FIRST Robotics programs, where I have mentored other teams about robotic programming and doing mathematical calculations for trajectories of projectiles.

Throughout my elementary and middle school career, math was something I did not enjoy. I did not see the subject as being real, it was just numbers I had to deal with on a page. However, in my freshman year of high school everything changed. I interviewed a professor at my local University: Dr. Brad King, the youngest person to ever be nominated to the Board of Science, who is an engineering professor and aerospace engineer. He talked about what he does, and the satellite he was developing, which started as calculations made in his office. That simple sentence changed my nerdy space loving mind upside down, as I realized that mathematics is a part of not only everyday life, but it made extraordinary things possible.

My goal as a professor would be to not intimidate students, but try to show them how math influences their everyday life, and is not something to be feared, but to be awed by its perplexity. Dr. King changed my life, as I am currently majoring in photonics engineering. Dr. King is my hero and I aspire to one day change students lives as he changed mine.