BEAM is thrilled to announce the third class of scholarship recipients through our College Scholars program! This year, three students have been awarded scholarships generously provided by Jane Street, a research-driven global trading firm and one of BEAM’s incredible corporate partners. The Jane Street College Scholarships enable BEAM students to attend colleges that are a strong fit for their academic goals, even when those schools do not fully meet their financial needs.
Here are the stories of our College Scholar recipients, in their own words.
ABAY
Abay is attending SUNY Stony Brook where he plans to study Economics.
I was 12 when I first started at BEAM. I remember my first few days in BEAM Discovery at New Design High School. I enjoyed the way BEAM made learning feel fun again, so I was very interested when I heard about the rest of the program. The day we had the orientation, I remember one of the former students of the program said, “If you miss out on this opportunity, you'll lose a life that you'll never know you had,” and that was what got me on board. BEAM has been with me for a very long time, and I have been able to see in real time how it benefited my life, not just for academics but for a more complete perspective of education and school. It is through the classes I took and the friends that I made that I was able to manage high school.
Another element of BEAM I love is the trips, and one trip in particular stands out. The trip to Jane Street in early 2023 really exposed me to new waters. I had a loose idea of what career I wanted: a finance or business type of job. But when I got to Jane Street, my whole expectation was flipped on its head. I expected a bunch of guys in suits at desks, but I was exposed to a workplace that was full of smart, talented professionals in casual clothing who were both passionate and friendly. My friend and I fell in love with both the work setting and the work itself. After that trip, I found myself for the first time looking into specific majors. Although BEAM is known for mathematics, I always thought of myself as having interests in addition to math. So when I came across Economics, being able to bridge social or political events and financial trends was fun for me, like the world is one big web of interactions and transactions that all cascade and impact each other; it just clicked.
The BEAM scholarship makes this whole process much more manageable because I knew dorming at Stony Brook was going to put my family under a big financial burden. The BEAM scholarship has enabled me to pursue the education I wanted for myself in the environment I dreamed of being in without having to make any compromises. BEAM has given me so much to help me get here, and I'm deeply grateful for all the opportunities.
JOSE
Jose is attending UC Davis where he plans to major in Aerospace Engineering.
From my first day at BEAM Discovery at Rise Kohyang Middle School in 2018, I immediately felt at home. This sense of home grew as I discovered my passion for math. For the first time, I started spending free time doing math and also started tackling intricate problems that kept me puzzled during Open Math Time at Discovery. Although the summer ended, my passion for math did not. I convinced my math teacher to place me in the Algebra 1 class at school. BEAM Summer Away was also another big stepping stone for me, as I was introduced to number theory and how to write proofs. I got to spend three weeks at Harvey Mudd College, where I was away from home for the first time. Math was practically my whole day, but that only further excited me.
Going to high school was tough because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but BEAM was always there for me. Their Saturday classes on subjects such as Python and Linear Algebra were extremely helpful in maintaining my work ethic and making sure I did not give up. All these experiences also encouraged me to apply to be a junior counselor for the very same BEAM program I was part of. Being a junior counselor allowed me to reconnect with classmates I hadn’t seen in years. I also had the privilege of being part of the journey of students like me who were getting introduced to various concepts that aren’t normally taught in middle school. Additionally, I got to see the “Oh” moments when students realized how to solve a problem. These were just some of the moments that made being a junior counselor memorable and, more importantly, allowed me to help more students find a home at BEAM.
Now that I am going to major in Aerospace Engineering at UC Davis, I have found a new path. I plan to work on making renewable spacecraft for exploring space, as we will need more resources with the growing population.
SELINA
Selina is attending SUNY Stony Brook where she plans to study Biology on a pre-dentistry track.
BEAM came into my life in middle school. At first, I thought it was just going to be another boring program. I was wrong. BEAM opened up new doors and was a guide, leading me deeper into the world of STEM. They showed me a different side of math. Back then, I liked math because I was good at it, but BEAM gave me a better reason: it’s fun.
My first summer with BEAM was at Bard College in 2019. It was also my first time living away from home. We were challenged with interesting puzzles that didn't even feel like math. I especially loved the wall of 100 challenge problems waiting to be solved and relished the rewarding feeling of tackling one. BEAM's classes were never boring. From Addition and Subtraction with 0s and 1s to Intro to Circuits, they all sparked my creativity. Some were even bizarre (like frying a potato using the sun's rays). These classes and fun activities filled my summer with happy memories. These three weeks felt like a vacation with my friends, as we were given interesting classes as well as trips to water parks, hiking, and more! BEAM made me realize that learning and fun could be combined.
My journey with BEAM continued throughout high school. BEAM has always been a support system I could rely on, whether it was picking the right colleges, writing my college essay, or the application process. Without BEAM, none of it would have gone as smoothly. With BEAM's resources, I started to explore careers in STEM, joining CTY Scholars and learning about anatomy and diagnosis. In addition, I also joined various other programs like the Perry Initiative and Synthetic Biology Workshop. Ultimately, I decided to pursue dentistry.
I'm attending Stony Brook this year, majoring in biology. I know the path ahead will contain hardships, especially financial burdens from the potential 8 years of schooling. Thankfully for me, BEAM reached out a helping hand and alleviated some of the burden with this scholarship.
Looking back, BEAM has been a constant source of support and inspiration. From my early days of discovering the joy in math to my current pursuit of a career in dentistry, BEAM has always been there to guide me, challenge me, and lift me up. The memories I have made and the lessons I have learned through BEAM are invaluable, and I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without their constant support. Moving forward, I will carry with me the spirit of curiosity and resilience that BEAM planted in me, and I will always be grateful for the incredible experiences and opportunities they’ve provided.
We’re also so proud of the three students who received BEAM tuition assistance scholarships. Read on to learn more about their STEM journeys:
David l.
David is attending New York University where he plans to study Computer Science.
BEAM has been a huge part of my STEM journey. I started BEAM when I was in 6th grade, and I was part of BEAM Discovery. I used to think of math as a free class and ace it. There was nothing particularly interesting in it, and it was very easy for me since mostly it was just solving word problems that used similar expressions over and over again. However, at Discovery, math took a whole new turn for me. We weren’t doing worksheets that worked on the same skill with slightly different variations and finding one solution to an answer, like solving for x. We were working on questions that potentially had multiple solutions and exploring theorems and patterns that could be applied to solve other questions. It made me view math in a way that I could’ve never imagined. There was also the 100 Problem Challenge. Now math was interesting and more challenging to the point where I was only able to contribute to 3 to 5 of the questions on the bulletin board. Not only was I able to learn math at BEAM, but it also unlocked my interest in programming. It was my first time coding, and the first language I was introduced to was Python. With my interest in the program, I attended Summer Away at Union College the next summer and participated in Saturday school for the next 6 years.
As I mentioned, the start of my programming career was the introduction to Python. I was interested in programming because of it, and my middle school also supported me with a computer class. With prior knowledge of how programming generally works, I was confident enough to take a software engineering class in high school. It was one of the best decisions I made in my life since I was successful in it. BEAM, once again, was a partial reason why I was successful since it helped me ease into my software engineering class (since I took a Javascript class at BEAM). I was also a 3-time finalist at my high school in a competition to choose the best year-long projects in each grade. Finally, to hone my skills and keep my computer science skills active, BEAM helped me find a summer intensive program called All Star Code, where I learned HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. All this build-up led me here today, going into college with a potential career interest in computer science. This scholarship will help me go to the college I wanted and continue my computer science journey.
david r.
David is attending University of Southern California where he plans to study Business and Math.
I am a Mexican-Guatemalan male first-generation rising USC student aspiring to major in business administration and applied mathematics. I grew up in South Los Angeles, and it was there that I had the privilege of having access to many great resources through the Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics program. I have always enjoyed competing against my peers, and that passion has carried over to my time at BEAM. My journey at BEAM began in the summer when I was a rising 7th-grade student, and BEAM has changed my perspective on how math can be so much more than simple arithmetic. I remember vividly how excited I was to participate in the relays, the challenge of solving a difficult problem, and the joy of completing the program. BEAM has helped me realize that I’m capable of whatever I put my mind to. There are many complex challenges within mathematics, and the opportunity to work on them excites me.
My interest in math has grown because of BEAM, and I am willing to work hard in college to study this passion. I have worked at BEAM for two of my summers, where I assisted math classes as a teacher assistant and counselor to help the local community of rising 7th graders. The impact BEAM has has inspired me to make a similar impact on my community. The reason I will be studying business administration is to understand how an organization like BEAM can impact a community significantly and to learn more about managing a business. My reason for studying mathematics is to gain insight into college-level mathematics and go beyond that. Ultimately, my goal is to make a positive impact and inspire future generations, just like BEAM has done for me. (If I ever get to join BEAM, I most definitely would.) I plan to get a master’s degree in either math or business in the future. This scholarship will provide me with the opportunity to network with all kinds of individuals and provide the financial support needed to pursue my academic goals. I hope to use my education to contribute to positive change in society and my community.
Kenny
Kenny is attending UC Irvine where he plans to study Biomedical Engineering on a pre-med track.
Growing up, I saw many science fiction movies with my dad, movies where I saw the ideas and dreams of people before me on the screen. Movies such as Spider-Man, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, and Terminator all had a spark of what could be achievable through effort in science. As I grew up, I found another interest within math; I found its problems to be an easy and fun puzzle, but it wasn't until BEAM that I learned what it meant to be truly stumped by a math problem. At BEAM, I learned about how to improve through the struggle of failing, hitting a wall over and over again, and learning from my errors. BEAM was always a circle of support while I went through middle school, mostly through math, but the lessons they taught me helped me when I reached other subjects, specifically science.
In high school, I took college-level chemistry, a real challenge at the time, mostly because it was so different from high school, where I needed to do more than what I was directly asked of in class. While I was doing poorly at first, I was able to follow the lessons I learned from BEAM, ignite the passion I found in science to master the subject, and rise to the top of my class. This was something that continued as I tackled harder math and science classes.
Part of the reason I enjoy science is that I not only learn how the world works around me, through the smallest particles and their effects due to their atomic properties, or the forces that act within our world, but I also see current discoveries in clean energy, genetics, and the possibility of cloning animals and species that are now extinct. One of my biggest concerns was whether I could afford to follow my dream of studying science. This scholarship helped alleviate that concern, allowing me to pursue a Biomedical Engineering major at UC Irvine. Now I can see just what the future holds, and understand what this field has to offer to the world, showing what once was on a TV screen through a window panel one day.
Congratulations to Abay, David L., David R., Jose, Kenny, and Selina!
Jane Street is a global trading firm and market maker with offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam; trading a wide range of financial products. As a firm of collaborative problem solvers, Jane Street leverages quantitative analysis, technology, and expertise to provide consistent liquidity across market conditions.