Hi all, I’m Josh!

Ever since I was little, I can remember being told that I was an active individual. Whether I was running around the house or jumping towards the ceiling, it was challenging to find a time when I would sit still. 

Roughly a decade and a half later, the same pattern has continued, although in a more subdued manner. I still like to run, but instead I prefer to run around the roads and paths of my local neighborhood or to travel with my family. I still like to jump towards the ceiling, but the ceiling has become too low.

So where then has that energy gone? 

The answer is that it has been redirected to another passion, as now many of my movements take place under my adjustable basketball hoop looming over my driveway. The hours I have spent outside my house over the years were filled with my dribbling, executing whatever combination came to my mind, and lateral, misleading movements to get past my defender, whether it be a friend or my brother. As I approach the rim, the same thought always lingers: the question in my mind of whether I would be able to jump to the level of the rim to powerfully dunk the ball, a common thought among those who like to spend part of their free time playing basketball.

Over the years, I have been able to dunk on higher and higher heights, incrementally increasing the level, one inch at a time. With each raised goal, I have found myself sizing up the rim in different ways, and then proceeding to jump and and repeat with different approaches to try and reach that extra inch. Every attempt, I sought to find a new way that would maximize my chance, creating a new angle that could possibly serve as a pathway to my success.

My repetitive and persistent nature when playing sports also captures yet another one of my interests: math. With every problem, you can approach it one way that may fail, and then you have to continue to attempt other angles at the problem in order to find the path. With each attempt at a direction, I can take away some piece of information that can help inform me of how to proceed. It is in this aspect in which math appeals to me. Each and every problem can be different from the last, and with the same set of tools and techniques, I must be able to think through a challenge, creating an angle in which to proceed in order to find the very height of the problem.

Creating angles to solve problems has also led to my desire to solve and also understand all of the actions that I am doing. This interest of deepening my understanding has fed into my exploration of topics past competition math, proceeding into the areas of the natural and physical sciences, including chemistry and biology. I appreciate how these subjects add a new level of understanding, allowing me to consider all my actions and solve problems in a different way. Many of these problems are interdisciplinary, requiring the use of math and several other areas of knowledge. Each of these necessary focuses further requires the discovery of the right angle, the right application to delve deeper into the understanding.

I am excited by the possibility of having to find new angles to vary your approach at a challenge. I am enthusiastic about developing those links that deepen my understanding, allowing the possible use of this information in other ways. 

However, I want to be able to continue to create solutions. I want to be able to create a path, a new angle towards gaining insight.

So whether I’m analyzing a short story, reflecting on current events, or reviewing a new movie, I hope that you will step into my shoes and join me as I continue to create new angles, striving to jump towards new levels of insight.