Ask Me Anything Series
We hosted an Ask Me Anything (AMA) with Juni Mathematics Curriculum and Instructor Success Specialist, Genesis Luna. These interview events are the perfect opportunity to connect kids with tech professionals, thought leaders, and Juni community members.
Meet Genesis Luna
My name is Genesis, and I’m 23 years old. I was born and raised in El Paso, TX. I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2019 with a Mathematics BSA and a Pre-Health Professions Certificate.
I’ve been passionate about mathematics since my sophomore year of high school. I have two cats named Nacho and Kahlua, who love to watch me write the math curriculum at Juni Learning.
Questions for Genesis
1. What was your favorite part about being a math major?
Being a math major exposed me to various mathematics areas that were challenging and somewhat intimidating at first. However, finishing a course and finally understanding why a particular topic — like matrix theory or real analysis — is crucial to real-world applications was very gratifying.
I enjoyed pushing myself to think outside the box when solving complex mathematical questions. I loved meeting other students that studied math. Each individual had unique interests and goals for their degree like:
- Going into the tech industry
- Working at the Center for Disease Control
- Teaching the subject to other students
I’m grateful for the community and the unified bond that I experienced with my peers during my time at the University of Texas.
2. What do you do with a math major, and what tools do you get from it?
My major required me to take various math courses that balanced theoretical and practical mathematics applications — essentially, learning how to use math across multiple fields and why it works.
These courses included Calculus, Number Theory, Probability, and Statistics (just to name a few). Math applies to a wide range of fields such as technology, medicine, engineering, education, finance, and more.
Majoring in math helped me develop a variety of skills that are transferable to each of these fields, such as the ability to:
- Analyze and describe physical surroundings
- Solve problems logically and efficiently
- Identify patterns and relationships that exist within a particular environment and use these patterns/relationships to form conclusions about future events in similar environments
- Explain complex processes or phenomena through mathematical reasoning
Even if you decide not to major in math, I highly recommend taking at least a couple of courses (especially probability, statistics, and calculus) to sharpen your logical reasoning and analytical skills.
3. Do you have any advice for kids that want to continue to study math in college?
Explore, explore, explore! Math is a great major that opens up opportunities to immerse yourself in various fields. I highly recommend joining math clubs, taking theoretical and practical math courses, and researching all the possible career paths you can take with a math major.
By exploring your interests and surrounding yourself with other math-enthusiasts, you’ll end up finding the areas of mathematics that interest you most, and you can structure your educational path around those interests.
I also recommend talking with your math professors during their office hours about why they are passionate about teaching math. Take advantage of the opportunity to ask them questions and advice on how you can explore interests in the math field.
You’ll find that most instructors are involved in various math-based research projects outside of their classrooms. It’s fascinating to hear about their experiences in the math field and the educational/career paths they’ve taken up to that point!
Finally, don’t get discouraged or become intimidated by rigorous math courses! Some topics can be challenging to learn at first. Still, if you take the time to study the subject independently and ask plenty of questions during study groups and office hours, the “Aha!” moments will be gratifying.
More Juni Community Events
Thanks to all the families and students who participated in this AMA! We also, of course, need to thank Genesis for joining us and sharing her experiences.
Check out more of the latest Juni Community news, and stay tuned for more events we hold in the future.
