2023 Senior Stories

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

Asa Schiller

Starting at Goshen College in 2020 in the midst of 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 had tutored math to middle and high school students while also taking private piano lessons, and I felt ready to advance my knowledge and maturity. But my expectations of compromise and a narrowed focus of study turned out to be dead wrong.

I am now a junior math major with computer science and music minors, and I am also in two of the three choirs and taking applied piano lessons. The perspectives courses of the Goshen Core allow students to pursue a variety of more casual interests, and I have now taken (or am currently taking) classes in gender studies, biology, english, and history (with more to come my senior year). 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.
Another welcome aspect of Goshen College has been the close community of this small campus. Most classes at GC begin with everyone introducing themselves to everyone else in the class. This year, at the beginning of one of my perspectives courses (a course unrelated to my major or minors), I realized that I already knew roughly half of the 32 people in the class! Now that I’m moving into my fourth year soon, I feel a sense of responsibility for fostering this environment for newer students.

This summer I am planning on taking an internship at JPL in Pasadena, CA where I grew up, where I will apply my skill at programming and mathematical thinking. Next year, during my senior year at GC, I plan to apply to graduate programs related to mathematics, and I hope to attend graduate school following that! Regardless of whether that plan is realized, I hope to find a career that speaks to my passion for problem solving and quantitative analysis.

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.