Alex Thayer
math instructor
Math has played an important role in my life for as far back as I remember. When I was in 1st grade, I was fascinated by a short conversation I heard between two 3rd graders about "negative numbers". The memory stuck with me, and a short while later I saw a mistyped problem on a worksheet and relished the opportunity to show my teacher I knew the answer was negative one. Unfortunately, the teacher marked it wrong, saying you should always put the larger number on top. Although that experience did not drive me away from math, my own philosophy is to help students expand on their insights into mathematics beyond what is taught in the classroom. I first joined a math club in fourth grade, although it was really in 8th grade and high school that I went to a lot of state and national competitions. These competitions were great not only because I enjoyed math but also because they let me visit new places and develop a love of traveling.
As a graduate student at UL Lafayette, I taught several math classes, and I reaffirmed to myself that it is really the teaching that I love even more than the math. I was very pleased to find Archimedes School because of my math competition background. There are many tutoring places out there, but there are only a few that offer opportunities for student enrichment significantly beyond what is learned in classrooms. Whether a student is struggling in math, doing fine but wanting to do better, or making straight A's but wanting to delve deeper into math, Archimedes has something for that student.
Due to the overwhelming influence of programming in Redmond, in my family, and in our planet's future, I have recently decided to jump headfirst into programming myself. My first smartphone app "Hypermaze!" was published in May 2015, and although it's not very fancy, I am nevertheless pleased at how I was able to grow in just 3 months. I am working towards grander app development projects, and for the foreseeable future I will continue my work at Archimedes as well.