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Monday, June 4, 2007

From Girl-Next-Door to Mathematician Down the Hall

It's always good to hear about child actors who manage to break free from the drugged-out, sex-taped , in-and-out of rehab cycle. It's even better when they graduate from prestigious institutions of higher learning, become mathematicians, have theorems named after them, and then use their fame to promote mathematics to impressionable children.

Danica McKellar, best known for her role as Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, has a book coming out in August directed at aspiring mathematicians of the female persuasion. It's called Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail, and it's aimed at adolescent girls, who amidst hormones, emotions, and the evil that is teenage boys, often fall irreparably behind in math and science.

She hopes to change all that. I hope she succeeds.

1 comment:

concernedCTparent said...

Love this story and I hope she's successful too! What a fantastic role model.