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ESSAY CONTEST WINNERS 2008

1st Place Alexandra Gaudette, Academy of the Sacred Heart

Subject:  "Today's Choices Shape My Future"

                                            What I learned at Math Camp

                        Alexandra Gaudette, Academy of the Sacred Heart

Like most of my fellow teenagers, I look forward to my leisure time in the summer as a well-deserved break from the rigors of the classroom.  But in the summer of 2006, I decided that I wanted to do something intellectually stimulating.  That summer I enrolled in the Fibonacci Numbers class of the Michigan Math and Science Scholars program t the University of Michigan.  I thought a class on the Fibonacci numbers would be incredibly interesting.  Little did I know that my Algebra II-educated-brain would be bombarded with modular arithmetic and set theory for six hours a day.  Though most of the math was over my head, it forced me to make a choice that will forever change my outlook on intimidation and confidence.

I had never had to ask questions in a math class before this program; I was the one who gave the answers.  That all changed when I stepped inside that overly air-conditioned classroom in the University of Michigan math department.  Gone was simple algebra, with its definite algorithms that lead to definite answers.  Here I was asked not only to understand the binomial theorem, but to prove that it works for all positive integers.  And most of my classmates were as intimidating as the problems.  Whenever anyone raised his or her  hand it was to solve a problem or to ask a compelling question that only confirmed their academic prowess.  I was left staring at the chalkboard like a deer in the headlights.  A mixture of shock and embarrassment kept my hand down and my mouth shut.  Instead, I kept quiet and copied copious notes on set theory and the Fibonacci sequence that I didn't understand. 

It took me a few days to realize how foolishly I was acting.  Why was I letting myself dwell in my confusion when understanding was a simple as asking a question?  Why let these two weeks go to waste?  I finally resolved to raise my hand and admit that I was totally lost.  And much to my surprise, several people in my class were just as confused as I was.  My experience changed dramatically.  My friends and I worked together to solve problems, and if we were confused we asked questions until we understood.  By the end of the two weeks I was able to figure out a proof by myself!  The chalkboard that was formerly the source of my frustration finally displayed a proof of my own.  I had conquered the chalkboard.

My decision to ask questions turned my greatest intellectual challenge into my greatest triumph.  In that classroom I not only conquered the chalkboard, but more importantly, my intellectual insecurity.  I refused to let intimidation prevent me from getting the most out of the experience.  I know that I will face even more challenging situations than this when I go to college and beyond, but that choice proved to me that I will be able to handle them,