Well basically I have always loved math. Since my college is a small
liberal arts school, the mathematics department is very small and has
limited options. While I both enjoyed and excelled in all of my math
courses, I was really only ever told about using my math to go on and
teach. Because I do not want to become a teacher, I oftentimes found my
major very frustrating and confusing. I did not know what I was going to
do with my degree after graduation. To help my nerves, I began to pursue
a minor in political science and enrolled in a few courses that utilizied
statistics to form different theories.
In addition to my love of computation, I also greatly enjoy helping
people. In the past few years, I have done a lot of work with mentally
challenged individuals. I have worked at summer camps for mentally
disabled children/young adults and currently participate in programs at
my college that allow me to teach mentally challenged adults how to read,
write, and do math. Last summer, however, I had an experience that
helped me find a focused track to my academic goals. Everyday I worked
with a little autistic boy named Jacob. At the age of three, he still
wore diapers, drank from bottles, and had very little social skills. At
the same time, however, he was amazing with numbers. He could count past
one hundred by tens, fives, twos, and even nines. He could also count
backwards and was even showing signs of understanding addition. He
understood everything mathematically, and for Jacob, the entire world was
organized like a number line. It was through this experience that I
realized I could also apply my own love of math to any fields that
interest me. RUSIS has confirmed this realization and I am very happy to
have been exposed to the extensive amount of careers that are just out
there awaiting me.
I will be graduating this spring and know that I definitly want to
continue on in school. After this program, I am certain that I will be
pursuing some aspect of statistics.
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