Humans of OL: Sam Cutler

“I came to Old Donation Center, where I was recognized that I was good at math and skipped the second grade. About halfway through fifth grade [the school] moved me into a different math class. It was a one-on-one session with a volunteer that came to school occasionally to teach me various concepts from Algebra, Geometry, all the way to even Calculus. At the end of fifth grade, I took the Algebra SOL. That summer I took Geometry online and the SOL at the end of the summer, so I could move on to Algebra II in sixth grade. I was put in [an eighth grade] class so that I could learn Algebra II. When that still wasn’t enough, my teacher decided to put me in a small group, and we did our independent work. I took Precalculus online and got my credit. In eighth grade I took Calculus BC online. The AP exam rolled along, and I signed up for it and studied. I was the youngest person in all of Virginia to take the AP Calculus exam. I got a 5, and I was proud of myself. I came to Ocean Lakes for the math and science academy and for all the other educational opportunities that they offered. I did Multi-variable Calculus and Differential Equations my freshmen year with a class full of seniors, and it was pretty fun. I had basically completed all the math classes that Ocean Lakes offered, so I could only take electives from then on. Now I’m in tenth grade, and I’m taking AP Statistics, where I get to show off my knowledge sometimes.”