2023 Senior Stories

Three students took Math 412 Connections Seminar in Spring 2023.  Here are their short personal stories.

Avery Schiller

Starting at Goshen College in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, I was expecting to make many compromises. My interests included both math and music, which seemed like they would prove difficult to reconcile. During the previous year, I tutored math to middle and high school students while also taking private piano lessons, and I felt ready to advance my knowledge and maturity. However, my expectations of compromise and a narrowed focus of study turned out to be dead wrong.

I am now a senior math major with a music minor, and my studies have encompassed even more topics than just these. The perspectives courses of the Goshen Core place students in classes in a variety of subject areas, and I have now taken (or am currently taking) classes in gender studies, biology, English, history, and religion. As a math major, I have TA’d and tutored for several math courses, and I have attended several meetings of the Indiana section of the Mathematics Association of America (MAA). I have enjoyed these opportunities to enrich my college experience, most of all competing in the ICMC (Indiana Collegiate Mathematics Competition) at Spring MAA meetings.

I am very active outside of the classroom. As part of my music minor, I take music lessons for my primary instrument (piano) and I sing in two different choirs. I’m going on my third choir tour this year, and I look forward to the experience! I enjoyed the two choir tours I went on previously, singing with lovely people for a whole week. I’m also a member of PIN, the student-led sexual and relationship violence advocacy group on campus, and I’ve even written and edited for The Record, the student newspaper.

One important aspect of Goshen College for me has been the close community of this small campus. Most classes at GC begin with everyone introducing themselves to everyone else in the class. By this point, I know a large fraction of people on campus by name (maybe around 10% of the total student population).

Last summer I interned at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA where I grew up. At my internship, I applied my skill at programming and mathematical thinking to write code to do astronomy data analysis. Before my internship, I had planned on going to graduate school after GC, but now I’m interested in exploring voluntary service opportunities first.

 

Isaac Fisher

I am a senior mathematics and secondary education major here at Goshen College. I wasn’t always interested in math, especially not teaching math. My senior year I took AP calculus and I knew that I wanted to continue studying math. In fact, in high school I thought that I would major in music. Coming to Goshen was the best decision for me because I was able to get a well rounded education, which included me being able to join the orchestra, jazz band, and choir.

My favorite part of Goshen College are the people that are here. The small class sizes allowed for my professors to get to know me and my interests. The students are all very friendly and get to know each other. My all time favorite memory at Goshen would be when I won the Concerto Aria competition and got to play a tuba solo accompanied by the Goshen College Symphony Orchestra.

I completed my student teaching last semester at Fairfield Jr. Sr. High School. I taught honors junior high Algebra I, high school Algebra I, Algebra II, finite math, and AP calculus. The biggest reward that I got out of this was seeing when the students understood a concept. This helped cement the idea of teaching in my future. My ideal job would be teaching high school math and either directing or playing in a local jazz band or orchestra.

Olivia Martin

I’m a math major and graphic design minor, with a special interest in education research and data visualization. During my time at GC, I’ve worked at the library and as a tutor, rolled lots of dice with RPGC, the tabletop role-playing game club, and spent lots of time exploring campus, looking for all the best secret spots and hammock trees. If you like to hang out in the library, you might know me by the yellow paper flowers hidden throughout the building.

While I love this school for letting me indulge my adventurous spirit, the best part will always be the people. Over the past four years, I’ve made lifelong friends in places both expected and surprising— some through RPGC, some through classes or working on campus, and some through sheer chance. Many of my dearest friendships began completely by chance, and I cherish every bit of happenstance that brought those people into my life.

Even the bonds I expected to make are stronger than I anticipated. In my very first college class, I met a fellow math student who has become a great friend and one of my closest confidantes. Through the last several years, we’ve worked together on homework and projects. When I got rejected from an internship I desperately wanted, he cheered me up. When the stress of college makes him question his passion for math, I’m always there to encourage him (or sometimes, just to commiserate). One semester during finals, we were both up late working on a math exam. At four in the morning I just got up and walked into his apartment, and we sat together until I left to go to bed.

After I graduate, I’m going to move to DC and start my career at an education research firm. I hope to work in the math content area, finding effective programs and teaching strategies that will improve math education across the country. I got a taste of the work during my internship, and I hope to return to the same organization.