Meet Some of our Scholarship Recipients

Alea Brummel - Senior

My name is Alea Brummel and I am from Long Island, NY. I am a senior Math Major and Biochemistry Minor on a pre-med track. In high school, I was fortunate to have outstanding math teachers who sparked my initial love of the subject.  When I came to Baylor, I planned to continue my math education but had not considered majoring in it. Because of the support, dedication, and passion of my math professors I continued to enroll in mathematics courses each semester, even after completing the math requirements for pre-med. After completing Calculus III with Dr. Hagelstein and Linear Algebra with Dr. Ryden, I decided to become a math major.

As a student on the pre-med track, I am frequently asked why I am a math major. I have found that my mathematics classes have enhanced my critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In addition, studying math has made me more resilient teaching me to spend hours working on challenging problems without giving up. The skills and concepts I have learned in my math classes have also helped me grasp challenging concepts in other classes, especially in physics.

I am grateful for the immense support and encouragement I have received from the Baylor math department. I am thankful for every math professor I have had, as they have not only explained concepts clearly in class, but also been patient and helpful in office hours. I would like to thank Baylor’s math department and the generous donors who have given students like me opportunities through scholarships.

Kinley Carlson - Senior

I am a Business Fellow here at Baylor with one of my majors being mathematics. I have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of this department and have loved getting to learn from all the amazing professors. Each class that I have taken thus far has pushed my understanding of math and how it is such an integral part of other subjects and daily activities. For example, I am also studying business, and it has helped me in many of my finance classes in my past 3 years at Baylor. Calculus and statistics, especially, play a huge role in financial calculations, including how to predict and optimize trading decisions. Having a strong background in math has helped me excel in my other courses, and I am so glad that I continued to pursue the mathematics degree. I have found each one of my math classes, while very different from one another, to be interesting and engaging.

Not only are they professors amazing teachers, but they are also very welcoming and genuinely want to see their students succeed. I have gotten to know a couple of my professors well, and they want to make sure each one of their students understands the material and enjoys the class, which I believe sets these professors apart. One of the most difficult math classes I took was Foundations of Mathematics, where we learn how to prove certain theories. Because this class was more focused on theory and we were learning how to write proofs and not on actual numbers and calculations, I struggled in the beginning of how to think of math in this way. However, my professor was very understanding of how this class could be more challenging for some students and was extremely patient and helpful when it came to teaching the material. Overall, I am glad that I had the experience of taking this course as it broadened my understanding of the field of mathematics beyond just simple equations and numbers.

I am extremely pleased with my experience in the math department at Baylor, and I cannot wait to learn more during my final year as I finish my degree.

Carson Hooker - Senior

My name is Carson Hooker, and I am an incoming senior this fall at Baylor University. I have not always been a pure Mathematics major at Baylor University; in fact, just last semester I began the year as a Secondary Mathematics major in the School of Education. However, I began to realize that my love for math classes exceeded my love for education classes. After much prayer and discussion, I decided to pursue a study in Mathematics, and that has made all the difference.

During my time at Baylor, I have found so much compassion and guidance from my mathematics professors. Even though math has always been my favorite subject in school, there are times that even the smartest students need help from a professor, and I have made office hours a priority in my time at Baylor. There have been multiple classes for which I had gone to office hours weekly to make sure I had been doing homework problems correctly and getting my questions answered to properly study for quizzes and exams. I thank the professors that I have had while I have been at Baylor for both having so much patience with me, and also never making me feel unwelcome in their office. I am so grateful and blessed to be at a university where my professors are so approachable and amiable.

Finally, I would like to thank the donors that make scholarships like the ones that I have received possible. As mentioned earlier, I used to be enrolled in the School of Education, and when I switched majors, I lost scholarships related to that major that made Baylor affordable for me, and I feared that I had made the wrong decision to switch majors. However, God provided a huge blessing to me through the generosity of donors and the Department of Mathematics. Sic ‘em bears!"

Jessica Rumsey - Senior

The Baylor Math Department forged and continues to inspire my curiosity for mathematics. Through this department and its diverse course offerings, my appetite to learn remains fulfilled, and my eager questions always answered. With the help of countless professors – including Dr. Ryden, Dr. Hagelstein, and Dr. Morgan, whose offices I constantly occupied – I have expanded my mathematical repertoire and become confident in turning this subject into a career.  

I am pleased to complete my last year at Baylor within the Math Department and sit in classes which intrigued me as early as my freshman year. I want to thank all the scholarship donors who have supported my time here at Baylor, and specifically acknowledge the generosity of Timothy C. Shultz whose endowed scholarship fund has eased a financial obligation. I look forward to pursuing mathematics well beyond the classroom and this university.