Seabury Hall students Jesse Doan (from left), Steven Doan and David Shiraki pose for a photo alongside Gov. David Ige and teacher Sean Wilson after winning the 39th annual Hawaii State Math Bowl in May.
Seabury Hall grad dreams of changing how math is taught
LOCAL NEWS
JUL 9, 2017
CHRIS SUGIDONO
Staff Writer
[email protected]
Recent Seabury Hall graduate Jesse Doan dreams of revolutionizing math education in America.
By the time Doan finished middle school, he had completed almost every high school math class available. He finished with a 4.0-plus GPA and is now heading to Stanford University in the fall to pursue applied mathematics, computer science and engineering.
“I strongly believe we can make it better,” he said. “Some kids I know find it hard to do basic arithmetic, and those are the fundamentals of tackling higher levels of math. I think the structure can be changed because sometimes in school it’s taught one way. I’ve learned multiple ways to solve problems, and it’s no different if it gets you there.
“I think math will be more loved and more understood. If it’s more applicable to someone’s life, they’ll learn it better.”
Doan has already helped change the landscape of math in Maui County. As an 8th-grader taking Advanced Placement calculus, he launched an annual elementary school math competition called the Maui Math Challenge.
Last year’s competition hosted about a hundred students with Doan organizing the event, which included writing the math problems and inviting the various schools.
“I wanted to give back to the community because I was amazed by all of the opportunities math competitions gave me,” he said. “It opens a lot of doors so that was the goal in mind, to inspire students in Maui to hopefully major in STEM (science, math, engineering and math) fields and increase their problem-solving abilities.”
As a math team competitor himself, Doan led his Spartan team to three of the last four Hawaii State Math Bowl championships, beating powerhouses such as Punahou and Iolani. Seabury Hall began competing in Math Bowl in his freshman year, when he teamed up with his older sister, Jasmine, as Seabury Hall became the first small school to win the nearly four-decade-old state competition.
“Our goal was to do the best that we can, and it was just a big surprise that we topped everyone,” he recalled.
After finishing third overall his sophomore year and reclaiming the title last year, this year’s team — which included David Shiraki and Doan’s younger brother, Steven — repeated as champion, capturing the 39th competition. Steven, a freshman, continued the tradition of every Spartan math team having at least one freshman.
“We felt very blessed and thankful,” Jesse Doan said. “We really focus on doing the very best we can and don’t focus on beating all the other schools. We just try to have fun, and when we win it shows how much we’ve worked together and improved in multiple concepts.”
While Jesse Doan has taken and aced numerous AP classes, he admits that math has “humbled” him. A visit to Washington, D.C., at the age of 13 for a national math competition broadened his mind and developed his problem-solving skills.
“I met a lot of talented and exceptional students, international and national math winners,” he said. “I got to learn from them, and I was not afraid to ask people for help. Math has truly increased my intellectual curiosity.”
He hopes to provide the same experience to millions of American students by changing the way educators teach math. He feels math competitions offer a different perspective and students gain a better understanding by being tasked with solving problems faster.
“I’m definitely keeping it in the back of my mind whenever I get out of college,”he said. “Maybe I’ll go to grad school and look at the problem and make some changes.”
Jesse Doan will focus on college first, though, as he follows in the footsteps of his sister, who will be a junior at Stanford. He is excited to be reunited with his sister and is looking forward to higher-level math courses.
“She told me to just enjoy your freshman year because I think it gets harder from there,” he said. “It’ll be a nice change. It’ll definitely be more challenging, but I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”
* Chris Sugidono can be reached at [email protected].
Seabury Hall Wins State Math Bowl
By Maui Now
Posted May 4, 2016, 07:00 AM HST
Seabury Hall’s Upper School Math Team earned first place honors at the 38th Annual Hawaiʻi State Math Bowl on Saturday, April 30, 2016.
The win comes after sweeping every Maui Math League contest this year to remain the champions of the Maui high school math league.
Seabury Hall’s team, coached by math department chair, Sean Wilson, an alumnus of Seabury Hall, is comprised of junior Jesse Doan, sophomore Shelby Ferrier, and freshman David Shiraki.
“The Upper School Mathematics team has been working hard all season, practicing math problems every Monday and Friday,” said Coach Wilson. “I applaud all of their hard work, and congratulate them on all of their achievements on the local, state, and national level,” he said.
The team claimed 1st place in Division A by earning a total of 83 points out of a possible 90 points. They also earned the highest overall score in the competition, surpassing larger schools in Division AA like ʻIolani, which scored 77 points, and Punahou, which scored 55 points.
Seabury Hall’s math team won first place for the third year in a row and was one of the youngest teams in the competition. The contest was hosted at Seabury Hall’s campus for the first time.
Sixteen public and private high schools from three different islands competed in the event. The Math Bowl is a math competition open to all high schools statewide sponsored by the Hawaiʻi Council of Teachers of Mathematics and Brigham Young University Hawaiʻi.
By Maui Now
Posted May 4, 2016, 07:00 AM HST
Seabury Hall’s Upper School Math Team earned first place honors at the 38th Annual Hawaiʻi State Math Bowl on Saturday, April 30, 2016.
The win comes after sweeping every Maui Math League contest this year to remain the champions of the Maui high school math league.
Seabury Hall’s team, coached by math department chair, Sean Wilson, an alumnus of Seabury Hall, is comprised of junior Jesse Doan, sophomore Shelby Ferrier, and freshman David Shiraki.
“The Upper School Mathematics team has been working hard all season, practicing math problems every Monday and Friday,” said Coach Wilson. “I applaud all of their hard work, and congratulate them on all of their achievements on the local, state, and national level,” he said.
The team claimed 1st place in Division A by earning a total of 83 points out of a possible 90 points. They also earned the highest overall score in the competition, surpassing larger schools in Division AA like ʻIolani, which scored 77 points, and Punahou, which scored 55 points.
Seabury Hall’s math team won first place for the third year in a row and was one of the youngest teams in the competition. The contest was hosted at Seabury Hall’s campus for the first time.
Sixteen public and private high schools from three different islands competed in the event. The Math Bowl is a math competition open to all high schools statewide sponsored by the Hawaiʻi Council of Teachers of Mathematics and Brigham Young University Hawaiʻi.
Seabury Hall 8th-grader secures individual title at MathCounts
March 14, 2013
By LEE IMADA - Managing Editor , The Maui News
A Seabury Hall 8th-grader, who is currently taking Advanced Placement calculus with high school seniors, captured the individual title at the state MathCounts competition Saturday on Oahu.
Jesse Doan, 13, placed first in both the written test and countdown or game-show portion of the event and will be traveling to Washington, D.C., to compete in the national MathCounts contest May 9 to 12.
He will be part of the Hawaii team, made of the top performers at the state competition. Last year, Doan was a member of the Hawaii team that competed at the nationals.
"I think I gained confidence when I went to nationals last year," said Doan, a Kahului resident.
As the scoring leader of the team this year, Doan believes that the Hawaii team won't just be a steppingstone for others but has a chance to place high.
"I know what to do to excel," said Doan, whose Seabury team placed second in the state competition.
The other members of the Seabury team that finished behind Washington Middle School were 7th-graders Shelby Ferrier, Melia Fong and Nikita Roque. Iolani and Punahou schools finished behind them, third and fourth respectively.
"Seabury Hall's second-place finish in the team competition is quite impressive since Jesse is the only 8th-grader," said Seabury Hall math coach Steve Vurno. "Most other teams had exclusively 8th-graders."
Doan will be a difficult member of the team to replace, though. He is currently enrolled in Seabury's highest level high school math course, AP calculus, normally taken by seniors.
"It's challenging," he said of the course.
Since he will have completed the best Seabury can offer in math, Doan said he is considering taking online math courses in subjects such as numbers theory and probability.
"I think I need to strengthen myself" in those areas, said Doan, who plans to seek a career in mathematics.
When asked if math has always come easily to him, Doan's reply was: "I wouldn't say it is easy. It can be challenging at times."
It's the challenging problems that draw his interest; he believes that he can learn a lot by solving them. Word problems are the most challenging.
"Most people know how to do the math," Doan said. "Word problems make you think because the math isn't that hard. It's thinking how to solve it."
Doan sees mathematics as a logical number-crunching exercise but with its creative aspects.
"I see it as both," he said. "I still have much to learn and much to be creative and to think about."
While some may pull out their hair trying to figure out percentages, Doan sprinkled the word "fun" throughout the interview to describe his math activities.
"Math is fun," he said. "It's also a great learning experience."
The Seabury student currently is trying to extend the learning and fun through his 8th-grade project.
Wanting to create more interest in math, he is organizing a math contest to complement MathMatters, a contest for elementary school students. The date is set for April 13.
He is doing this as part of his yearlong 8th-grade project, which involves writing an annotated research paper; creating a product from the research, which could range from writing music to building a structure; and culminating in a 10-to-13-minute oral presentation to their student peers, said Jacqueline Peterka, middle school head at Seabury Hall.
Doan has made contact with teachers and has sent out registration forms.
Although being such an advanced student in math, Doan would not fit in with the nerdy gang on "The Big Bang Theory."
"He's sweet, He's funny. He's just a regular kid, and he's brilliant . . . the whole package," said Peterka.
* Lee Imada can be reached at [email protected].
March 14, 2013
By LEE IMADA - Managing Editor , The Maui News
A Seabury Hall 8th-grader, who is currently taking Advanced Placement calculus with high school seniors, captured the individual title at the state MathCounts competition Saturday on Oahu.
Jesse Doan, 13, placed first in both the written test and countdown or game-show portion of the event and will be traveling to Washington, D.C., to compete in the national MathCounts contest May 9 to 12.
He will be part of the Hawaii team, made of the top performers at the state competition. Last year, Doan was a member of the Hawaii team that competed at the nationals.
"I think I gained confidence when I went to nationals last year," said Doan, a Kahului resident.
As the scoring leader of the team this year, Doan believes that the Hawaii team won't just be a steppingstone for others but has a chance to place high.
"I know what to do to excel," said Doan, whose Seabury team placed second in the state competition.
The other members of the Seabury team that finished behind Washington Middle School were 7th-graders Shelby Ferrier, Melia Fong and Nikita Roque. Iolani and Punahou schools finished behind them, third and fourth respectively.
"Seabury Hall's second-place finish in the team competition is quite impressive since Jesse is the only 8th-grader," said Seabury Hall math coach Steve Vurno. "Most other teams had exclusively 8th-graders."
Doan will be a difficult member of the team to replace, though. He is currently enrolled in Seabury's highest level high school math course, AP calculus, normally taken by seniors.
"It's challenging," he said of the course.
Since he will have completed the best Seabury can offer in math, Doan said he is considering taking online math courses in subjects such as numbers theory and probability.
"I think I need to strengthen myself" in those areas, said Doan, who plans to seek a career in mathematics.
When asked if math has always come easily to him, Doan's reply was: "I wouldn't say it is easy. It can be challenging at times."
It's the challenging problems that draw his interest; he believes that he can learn a lot by solving them. Word problems are the most challenging.
"Most people know how to do the math," Doan said. "Word problems make you think because the math isn't that hard. It's thinking how to solve it."
Doan sees mathematics as a logical number-crunching exercise but with its creative aspects.
"I see it as both," he said. "I still have much to learn and much to be creative and to think about."
While some may pull out their hair trying to figure out percentages, Doan sprinkled the word "fun" throughout the interview to describe his math activities.
"Math is fun," he said. "It's also a great learning experience."
The Seabury student currently is trying to extend the learning and fun through his 8th-grade project.
Wanting to create more interest in math, he is organizing a math contest to complement MathMatters, a contest for elementary school students. The date is set for April 13.
He is doing this as part of his yearlong 8th-grade project, which involves writing an annotated research paper; creating a product from the research, which could range from writing music to building a structure; and culminating in a 10-to-13-minute oral presentation to their student peers, said Jacqueline Peterka, middle school head at Seabury Hall.
Doan has made contact with teachers and has sent out registration forms.
Although being such an advanced student in math, Doan would not fit in with the nerdy gang on "The Big Bang Theory."
"He's sweet, He's funny. He's just a regular kid, and he's brilliant . . . the whole package," said Peterka.
* Lee Imada can be reached at [email protected].