The Knowles Science Teaching Foundation awarded the first cohort of Mathematics Teaching Fellowships in February 2005. For more information about our fellows, click on a picture.

Arielle Alford Pool	Sujata Ganpule	Emily Kennedy
DeVita L. Lane	Andrew Lee	Ashleigh Lewis
Derek Pope

Arielle Alford Pool

In 2001 I graduated with an I.B. diploma from Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School in Birmingham (go Trees!). I then left Alabama and headed to Oxford College of Emory University, a campus with which I have fallen in love. I entered college as one of those numerous pre-meds. I soon realized that while I loved my science and math classes, the thought of medical school was dreadful. I've been known to faint at the sight of blood, so this was definitely not the career path for me!  

Around that time I stumbled into a campus tutoring job. I realized that I loved helping people learn mathematics and biology (two subjects I adore) and decided that my future profession rested in education. I was afraid that as a teacher I would be forced to choose between math and biology. Fortunately, I found PRISM (Problems and Research to Integrate Science and Mathematics), a program at Emory that utilizes case-based learning in Atlanta schools to spark student interest in math and science classes. As a PRISM fellow, I have explored the intersection between learning math and learning science, which I hope to emphasize and build upon as a teacher.  

I graduated from Emory in 2005 with a double major in mathematics and biology and recently completed a graduate degree from the University of Georgia. I now spend my days teaching Algebra and Geometry at Winder-Barrow High School in Winder, Georgia. One of my favorite afternoon activities is to grab a good book and head outside for some quiet reading time. I also find respite playing the piano. I like to consider myself an amateur botanist and, because of my track record of killing every plant I've owned, I try to stick to studying plants already successfully growing in the wild. When I have the time, I also enjoy embarking on traveling adventures to explore new locations.

Sujata Ganpule

I grew up in northern California. By the 6th grade, I enjoyed school overall, but hated math class. I used to get really frustrated about how hard it was -- when I sat down to do my homework, there was always something about it that I just didn't get. Luckily, I had supportive parents at home that worked to get me to believe in myself, and pushed me to keep going and not get discouraged. Slowly but surely, I improved; and by 8th grade, mathematics was one of my favorite subjects.  

I played soccer throughout high school and was also part of my school's Peer Tutorial Club. This club helped match up struggling students with peer tutors who could help them with their schoolwork either during school or after school. I enjoyed tutoring a lot, especially in the subjects of math and Spanish.

I have always loved California, but by the time I graduated from high school, I decided that it would be nice to experience life on the East Coast. So I attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. I started out as a computer science major, but quickly found that I didn't enjoy it very much. As part of the engineering sequence, though, I took some mathematic classes that I really enjoyed. I slowly began to learn more about what it meant to study mathematics, and eventually made it my major.

During my first two years of college, I was part of the Cornell Bhangra Team (bhangra is an Indian folk dance from Punjab). It was a fun experience. We performed at various cultural shows on campus throughout the year, and traveled to Ann Arbor, Boston and Toronto for competitions. I also took some fun trips over my winter breaks in college – I traveled to India one year, and China the next, with opportunities to visit both the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China.  

In my last year at Cornell, I joined the undergraduate teaching program, and spent time tutoring and working at Ithaca High School. I enjoyed the education program very much, and after I graduated I moved back to California and entered the teacher preparation program at UC Berkeley. At Berkeley I had two great student teaching placements -- the first teaching 8th grade algebra and the second teaching IMP 2 freshmen and sophomores in high school. I earned my master's degree in education and teaching credential in May of 2005. In 2005-2006, I worked at a charter high school in Marin. In 2006-2007, I worked at a charter high school in San Francisco, and will continue working there next year.

Emily Kennedy

Three of my grandparents were educators, so I've always had a pretty severe case of the teaching "bug" (I think it's contagious!). When I was a child, my older sister turned our basement into a summer camp for the neighborhood kids, where we performed plays, did fun science experiments, and developed an overall love of learning that has stayed with me.

Luckily, with an accountant for a dad and an artist for a mom, I was exposed to both ends of the spectrum and gained an appreciation for both the rigor of mathematics and the subjectivity of art, and I went through high school with the intention of combining these loves to become an architect. My junior year of high school, I began work as a secretary at an architecture firm, and worked my way up to draftsperson. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite satisfied with the idea of spending the rest of my life sitting at a drafting table or in front of a computer, and I began to rethink my plans.  

During my second year as an architecture major at Georgia Tech, upon completing my final mathematics requirement, I realized -- much to the surprise of my friends, who had all been quite happy to finish Calculus II -- that I was actually sad that I would never take another mathematics class. After some long hard thought (and more than a few unbearable architecture assignments that asked us to "evoke the spirit" of cardboard), I realized where my passion truly lay: not in architecture, but in teaching and mathematics. When I thought back on those teachers who had inspired me, I realized that I wanted to be able to do the same for others, instilling in them the same love of mathematics that began to develop most strongly in me during high school. I switched my major and career goal, and found myself finally loving what I was doing.  

In May 2005, I graduated from Georgia Tech with a BS in applied mathematics and began graduate studies at the University of Georgia the following month. Although I tried to get into the "Dawg" spirit while at UGA, I still consider myself a Yellowjacket through and through -- old habits die hard. I graduated in August 2006 with an MEd in mathematics education and moved back to Atlanta to begin my new job at a school just north of the city, where I have discovered both the challenges and the rewards of being a high school math teacher. My experiences are shared by my fellow Fellows (so to speak), and our meetings and conversations have helped me grow and learn as an educator. KSTF has given me opportunities to meet and work with some of the best new and veteran teachers in the country; I am thrilled and honored to be a part of it. I'm not sure I could have survived my first year without it! 

DeVita L. Lane

I was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina. I am the daughter of Bruce Lane and Venita F. Lane. As a child, I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher. People would try to discourage me from this low paying profession, but I always told them that I did not care about the money. On the weekends, I would always play "school" with my doll babies. I saved my graded papers and handed them out to my "students" as "class assignments." As I think about it, teaching has been my heart for a long time.

In high school my passion for mathematics grew. I encountered some great mathematics teachers who inspired me to become a mathematics teacher so that I can inspire other students. In high school, I was involved in the step team and varsity cheerleading team; I was also involved in Key Club, and Capalettes, which are both service organizations.

After graduating from Columbia High in the top ten percent of my class, I attended the College of Charleston. While there, I received the Diversity Scholarship and was in Spectra, a program for incoming minority freshmen. I left the College of Charleston and returned to Columbia to attend the University of South Carolina. While at USC, I majored in mathematics education where I received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and a Masters Degree in secondary education.

Throughout my college years, I worked hard, and it has really paid off. I earned the Dean's List each semester, which was a great reward for studying. Additionally, I joined Gamma Beta Phi Society and was inducted to the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. These organizations allowed me to serve the community around me and help those in need.

While in school, I worked as the Education Instructor at the Lorick Park Boys and Girls Club. At the Club, I am responsible for Power Hour, which is homework time, and running different education programs, like Goals for Graduation, Ultimate Journey, and Skill Tech. Working with the children and their parents at the Club has been a learning experience that has brought me much pleasure. I learned to be patient, flexible, approachable, and the importance of being prepared, all of which are extremely important in the classroom.

I have recently embarked on my first year of teaching. I currently teach Algebra I CP and Math Tech I at a public school in Columbia, South Carolina. It has been an exciting and challenging time so far. However, I am enjoying the experience. Being able to help students understand math and how we use it daily has been great. I absolutely love the vibe that students bring into the classroom as we together learn more mathematics.

In my spare time, I love to spend time with my family and friends at home. I also enjoy shopping, going to church, bowling, and playing pool.

I consider myself truly blessed to have this opportunity to learn, grow, and prepare for the profession that fills my heart.

Andrew Lee

My most memorable high school math moments have been creating a human graph in algebra, learning about similar and congruent triangles es with make-shift pieces of wood in geometry, and seeing a cone sliced in many ways to produce the conic sections in algebra II. What made these most memorable? Being a full-time high school student, a student-athlete, and a member of too many school clubs at the time, I did not have the time to ponder nor explain why. It was not until I switched roles, and I became a high school math teacher myself that I understood the mechanics behind each moment.

I was born and raised in San Francisco, California. After elementary school, my family and I moved south of San Francisco to San Mateo.

Throughout high school, my math devotion grew as I saw the interconnectedness and cumulative aspects of each successive math class I took. I continued my mathematical studies at the University of California, Berkeley earning a bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics in 2004. However, the interconnectedness between each successive math class, not even to mention the interconnectedness within each class, was not as explicit as it was in high school. The only way to see the interconnectedness was to create the connections by oneself. To this end, I saw how mentally beneficial discussing math was that I wanted to reflect and rethink my previous math courses as well as my high school math courses. Thus after being a math tutor and study group leader at the Student Learning Center to help undergraduates with lower division math courses, I enrolled in San Francisco State University's teaching program to earn a high school teaching credential.

After receiving my teaching credential with CLAD in math in June 2005, I joined the faculty at a project-based, public charter school in Redwood City called High Tech High Bayshore. Looking back at my most memorable math moments in high school and being able to reflect with the new knowledge I gained through my teaching program, I saw how those teachers used physical manipulatives with me as a participant, an investigator, and an observer, respectively. The teachers were effective in using the manipulatives not as toys but as a way to enhance the understanding of the math. Learning about the type of atmosphere at High Tech High Bayshore and understanding the mechanics behind my math memories, I felt I was able to re-create those math experiences as well as create new math experiences that my students might hold on to after high school.

During the 2005-2006 academic year, I was a 9th grade math and physics teacher. Some of the projects we did were creating a musical instrument, creating a miniature golf station, and creating a gameboard. This current academic year, I am an 11th and 12th grade math teacher teaching Calculus, Pre-calculus, and Integrated Math.

Besides being a math teacher, I am involved with a Masters Swim Team (the YMCA Barracudas!) and I try to find time to play the violin and piano.

Ashleigh Lewis

I grew up in a loving home in the suburbs just outside Columbia, South Carolina. My parents have always been wonderful role models for me and my older sister.

My mother, who worked at an elementary school from the time I was seven until I was twenty, was the reason that I first decided I wanted to teach. Like most little girls I wanted to be exactly like my mom. I knew I would need to work hard in school and go on to college if I was to become a teacher.

As my school career advanced I was met with continual success. My achievements can be attributed in large part to my sister. She set the bar high for me. I strove to accomplish as much as, if not more than, my sister. She did not make that an easy task. Each time my sister won an award or received an honor, it became my next goal. I felt the ultimate sense of achievement when I graduated from high school as valedictorian the year after my sister had done the same. After entering college I decided to make my own path and my plan to follow in my mother's footsteps changed. I decided to major in biology and enter the medical field. However, something embedded in my personality drew me back to teaching. My ever-supportive father, who has believed in me more than anyone else in my life, gave me the courage to pursue my dream and teach, despite the fact that he had witnessed the pain that teaching can bring at times. Education has the capacity to be a thankless profession.

My sophomore year of college I changed my major to mathematics, which had always been my favorite subject, and began to take education courses. After completing my undergraduate degree in mathematics with a minor in psychology and an education cognate I attended graduate school for a year and earned a Masters in Teaching.

I am currently experiencing my first year of teaching at Brookland-Cayce High School in Cayce, South Carolina. I am very excited to see where the rest of this year will take me and I feel blessed to have the support of the Knowles foundation as I embark on this journey.

Derek Pope

I was born in Indianapolis, but after about two months I became disillusioned and decided to become a New Yorker. (Actually, if I had known the super-fast pace of New York I might have opted to stay in Indiana!) I grew up in Yonkers, New York until my mother and I moved over the Hudson River to New Jersey. I entered eighth grade at the Hawthorne Christian Academy, where I graduated high school in 1999.

As a child I wanted to be a scientist or veterinarian when I grew up. In high school these career goals changed as a desire grew within me to pursue psychology or mathematics and become a teacher. In 1999 I began Seton Hall University, working towards a bachelor's degree in psychology. After a semester, however, I decided to switch to mathematics, with a minor in computer science. I was also a member of the honors program at Seton Hall, and for my senior thesis I wrote and presented a paper entitled "Chaos Theory: A Metaphysical and Mathematical Exploration," incorporating some of my favorite things: mathematics, science, philosophy, and religion.

Immediately after graduating from Seton Hall in 2003, I entered Stony Brook University's doctoral program in mathematics, with the goal of teaching at the college level. I soon realized, however, that my true calling and passion was not mathematical research but teaching, so a semester later I joined SBU's Masters of Arts in Teaching Mathematics program and eventually graduated in December 2005.

Throughout my years in school, I had many opportunities to teach and work with young people. I spent five summers working at a camp for disabled children and adults as a volunteer counselor and later as a group leader. I began tutoring as a senior in high school, and continue to do so to this day. I taught a precalculus course at Stony Brook University, and for a year and a half I had the rewarding opportunity to teach math, science, and sportsfolio at a psychiatric hospital.

After graduating I worked for about half of a year as a permanent sub/leave replacement at one of the schools which I student-taught at, Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, NY. In September 2006 I began my first year as a full time secondary math teacher at Commack High School. In my "spare time" I also work with secondary students at an honors academy and teach SAT preparatory courses. I feel very blessed to be in a profession that I really enjoy; I actually look forward to work! When not working, I enjoy being with friends, biking, bowling, reading, photography, playing the piano, cooking, and really just about anything.

As I look back upon my life and look forward to the future, I am thankful to God who has blessed me in so many ways. I believe He has given me the desire and the ability to teach and the patience to deal with teenagers! I am excited about my future as a mathematics teacher, and I look forward to the opportunities that I will have to positively impact my students, as so many great teachers have done for me.