Carmen’s Story
During her sophomore year at Hampton University, Carmen Davis began tutoring in the math lab and noticed a problem. “Students were having trouble making the connection between information they had received in their high school math class and information they received in college courses.” Carmen had planned to become a math professor at the college level but now decided to commit her skills to strengthening math education at the high school level.
As an undergraduate at Hampton, Carmen served as president of the NAACP chapter on campus, as treasurer of the Math Club, and was inducted into Beta Kappa Chi. She pursued her graduate studies in secondary math education at Boston College, where she was involved with the Donovan Urban Teaching Scholars Program.
Carmen’s interest in education and in math began in Memphis, Tennessee, where she attended White Station High School and admired the roles and responsibilities of her teachers. “My parents always stressed the importance of education, and math was a big part of my life.”
While tutoring, I watched many students withdraw from or, even worse, fail required math courses. That really bothered me. I knew I had to make a commitment to enhancing math education in our secondary schools.