Here are some thoughts on the activities I was involved in during my last semester at Olin. It was a pretty decent culmination of the things I've been involved with over my four years here!
Linearity 1 NINJA
I think this was the best run of Lin I that we've had, and especially in the first half of the semester, I was pretty involved with the planning of the course, so I'm really happy that it went well. We spent more time on the linear algebra portion of the class than we have in the past, but as a result it seems like pretty much everyone understands eigenvalues and eigenvectors, and the vast majority of the class understands diagonalization. To be fair, we also had a smaller class than we've had in the past because about half of the first years took QEA (the experimental class combining math, physics, Dynamics, and Signals & Systems) instead. While that might have helped, I think letting linear algebra take more time contributed more to the improvement.
We did a bit less differential equations than we have in the past, but people still got the basic ideas of stability, eigensolutions, and what complex eigenstuff means. Aaron will also be teaching Linearity II in the fall, which will allow for more continuity between Lin I and Lin II; some of the DEs material that didn't get as much time this semester will come back next semester.
Discrete NINJA
Discrete is always a lot of fun to NINJA. I love the topics so much, and it's always exciting to see how people's logic and writing evolve. We also had a pretty enthusiastic class this semester. It was mostly sophomores and some juniors interested in computing, and a lot of them are excited about math generally. Things went really smoothly! We had a good teaching team and students who asked good questions and wanted to learn the material and write their solutions well.
Art of Problem Solving
I had a pretty heavy AoPS load this semester -- three or four classes a week, and I was a dedicated grader for two courses. My AoPS grading has definitely gotten better again (it's really different from Discrete grading!), and it's been nice to be involved in a variety of classes. Last semester it felt like all I did was Geometry. This semester I'm involved in Geometry, Algebra A, and Number Theory courses.
Faculty Search
Faculty search was essentially a 1 or 2 credit course for me this semester; pretty much by accident, I ended up really involved. We had 20 candidates visit this semester. I went to eighteen candidate talks, had lunch with three candidates, did the OSS session with two candidates, and did the course co-design session with eleven candidates. I've also spent a lot of time talking to various people on the faculty search committee about the process, student involvement, and the candidates. I really enjoyed being involved; it's been interesting to think about what the school looks for in faculty members as well as what I want to see in faculty members.
Church
The beginning of this semester was focused on our choice among the options for our future. We ended up choosing adoption (and we've recently been adopted!), which is really exciting. I think it was definitely the right choice for the congregation. I continued to sing with the choir this semester, and we did quite a few pieces. Next week we're doing a Bach cantata, which we're all nervous about, but I think it'll be good!
I spoke at church a couple of times this semester. The first was about the vote; I wrote a letter and then ended up preaching it a couple of weeks later. Today, the graduating seniors led worship, and so I talked a bit about the importance of singing to my faith.
OCF, SWE, BOCA, and Midnight Math
I was an election monitor for both Olin Christian Fellowship and Society of Women Engineers at Olin this semester because I'm a graduating senior member. I didn't do many other things with either group this semester; I was able to go to a few OCF events, but not many. A couple of friends in OCF and Babson-Olin Catholic Association and I did hold an all-night Easter Vigil at Olin, which was fantastic.
I was more involved in BOCA, especially at the beginning of the semester. We had a retreat in February, and I was one of the students who helped organize and lead that event. I also helped plan and lead Stations of the Cross during Holy Week.
We had a couple of Midnight Math events this semester. One was a lecture about math and quantum physics; the other was a group of eight or nine quick talks about various algorithms, which was a lot of fun.
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