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Three Curry College seniors were recently recognized for their outstanding academic performances with awards from the Mathematics Area at Curry College. Caroline McDonald, Harrison Dean, and Ashley Almeida were each given plaques marking their achievements and contributions to mathematics and mathematics education.
Caroline McDonald, a mathematics education major, was presented with an award for Academic Excellence in Mathematics. Caroline, who plans to be a mathematics teacher, has maintained a high GPA while taking rigorous coursework. She has done undergraduate research in mathematics education during her time at Curry College, and presented at the Joint Mathematics Meeting, the largest mathematics conference in the world. She has also volunteered outside of Curry, and was one of four pre-service teachers playing mathematical games with children at the South Elementary School Family Math Night in Stoughton Massachusetts. Along with Allyson Hoffman, Ryan Kirkpatrick, and Harrison Dean, Caroline engaged children in mathematical thinking so that their parents could attend a presentation explaining the mathematics that their children would be learning in school.
Harrison Dean, an education major and mathematics education minor, was awarded the Leadership in Mathematics Education Award. In addition to volunteering at South Elementary, Harrison maintained a high GPA while taking multiple mathematics courses beyond what would be required to earn a minor. Harrison also participated in research on impact of simulation-based inference curriculum on pre-service teachers' understanding of children's probabilistic reasoning, research that was presented at the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators annual conference. Harrison will soon enter Boston College's Master of Education program in Curriculum and Instruction.
Ashley Almeida was awarded the Leadership in Mathematics Award. In addition to excelling in multiple mathematics courses beyond those required for a minor, Ashley assisted with research on undergraduate students' statistical thinking as part of the DISCUS-IS project, funded by the National Science Foundation.
All three students took a wide range of courses, from applied mathematics courses such as Statistics, to theoretical courses such as Discrete Mathematics and Calculus, to courses that examine mathematics and its use from a wide range of cultures in History of Mathematical Inquiry. They regularly supported and challenged their peers in learning and critiquing mathematics both in the classroom and beyond.