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Meet the First Winner of the Spread the Math Love Contest Who Is Making Military Dreams Come True

Posted 05/29/2019 by Ellen Fishpaw

While the school year may be coming to an end, our new contest aimed at spreading the love of math is just getting started. Through September, we’re asking people across the country to recognize the parents, teachers and mentors who inspired their passion for numbers for a chance to grant them a math wish. So far, we’ve received more than 600 entries in the Spread the Math Love Contest for a chance to make someone’s math dreams come true.

This week, Texas Instruments (TI) surprised the first winner of the contest, calculus teacher Glen Marr from Park Vista Community High School, just outside of Palm Beach, Florida. High school senior Faith Southwick, who is the first person in her school’s history to receive an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, nominated Marr for inspiring her love of math and helping to facilitate her military career.

WATCH A VIDEO OF THE SURPRISE: HERE.

Texas Instruments today surprised the winner of the Spread the Math Love contest, Calculus teacher Glen Marr from Park Vista Community High School, just outside of Palm Beach, Florida. High school senior Faith Southwick, who is the first person in her school’s history to receive an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, nominated Mr. Marr for inspiring her love of math and helping to facilitate her military career.

“I can honestly say that I may have never chosen this path, or been able to succeed, without the mentorship of Mr. Marr. His mathematical abilities, which are remarkable on their own, are far outweighed by his passion for teaching calculus,” wrote Southwick. Having dreamed of serving her country since she was 11 years old, Southwick plans to pursue a nuclear engineering degree at the academy. “For the next 20 years of my life, I will be using the momentum created by my two years in Mr. Marr’s class, and my passion for math, to help defend the United States. I am extremely grateful to Mr. Marr for inspiring me, and others, in the way he has, and I hope to inspire others in the future in a similar way.”

For his prize, TI will fly Marr to San Francisco, California, this summer, along with his wife, for a tour of the Exploratorium, a renowned collection of exhibits that draw together science, art and human perception. “I can’t believe it. This is a dream come true; definitely the best day I’ve ever had as a teacher,” said Marr, who has been teaching mathematics at Park Vista Community High School for the past 15 years and has taught Southwick for the past two years. “The fact that she is going to be able to go to the U.S. Naval Academy, and I was a small part of that, it’s unbelievable.”

Faith Southwick, of Park Vista High School outside of Palm Beach, Florida will be inducted into the US Naval Academy class of 2023, the first student in the history of her school to be appointed to the academy. She credits her Calculus teacher, Glen Marr, for helping inspire her love of math and facilitating her military career.

The Exploratorium donated the tours to help fulfill Marr’s math wish. There will be four additional wish winners through September. Help spread the love of math by recognizing and giving back to the person who helped you build a relationship with numbers. Honor them by sharing your math story for a chance to help them win a math wish at https://education.ti.com/mathlove.

Watch local news coverage of the surprise:

About the author: Ellen Fishpaw is the Media Relations and Communications Manager for Texas Instruments Education Technology. Before joining TI five years ago, Ellen was a broadcast journalist for 13 years, working at television stations across the country, from North Carolina to New Mexico. She most recently worked for NBC 5 in Dallas as a crime reporter before hanging up the microphone for a TI-84 Plus CE. Follow her on Twitter @ellenfishpaw.

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