“The creativity of math never fully sets in high school,” says Ben Bennett, a senior studying mathematics at the College of St. John and a graduate of Blackduck High School.

“In high school you just learn the rules and regulations, and then calculus and higher level math hits you in the face, and it’s philosophical. You see that mathematics is not black and white; it’s a spectrum. There is room for interpretation and creativity.”

What was once abstract has offered Ben new ways of understanding the world around him and impressing change upon it. While at the College of St. John, Ben became interested in mathematical modeling — a way that mathematicians can observe patterns in nature. From the patterns they see, they can construct a mathematical statement and use the statements to show the likelihood of an event happening.

The practical applications of mathematical modeling, as a career are diverse and the outcomes can affect everyday lives.  Models can show the likelihood of a bridge collapsing under certain circumstances.  It can also calculate the chances of a foreign disease entering the United States. 

During the summer of 2007 Ben was a student researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University helping to construct a model for Chagas Disease, a malady that affects between 15 and 18 million of Latin America’s poorest people. By studying the spread and prevention of the disease, researchers will help government and non-government organizations consider Chagas in a quantitative way and allow them new ways of creating solutions for dealing with its devastating effects.

Working on challenging societal problems during the course of his college education has enlightened Ben to the fact that math does matter and that we do and must use it in our everyday lives.

For Ben, “mathematical modeling is a method of solving problems in a real way.” He admits that, “most math is abstract, and that is the reason why most people don’t like it. But modeling can solve real problems.”

Ben also spent time doing service work during a 2006 spring break trip to the San Lucas Mission in Toliman, Guatemala. As part of a diplomatic mission sponsored by the Colleges of St. Ben’s and John’s, students helped a struggling and impoverished community construct a more sustainable city. Students and community residents worked together to build homes and other sustainable city buildings. The two colleges have been working with the city for several years, and the work is beginning to blossom as citizens become active participants in their community. “No matter how smart you are,” Bennett says, “it is difficult to hammer a nail. It is a great equalizer.”

At the core of his ideology is his belief of self-improvement through the influence of others. “I value that development of the person, I find to develop yourself fully you need to look to others,” he says. “Life is important to be lived with and through others as well as yourself.”

Instead of being the stereotype of the solitary mathematician scribbling away at an abstract equation, Bennett is creating equations to solve real-world problems. “Math,” he says, “is everywhere.”

In 2008 Bennett graduated from St. John's. For the next two years he will be working with Teach for America in Washington D.C. as a high school math teacher while working towards his master's degree in education.