Georgetown University student Stephen Silvius (COL '07), a Mathematics/History double major from San Bernadino, Calif., has been selected as a recipient of the Marshall Scholarship for 2008 to pursue graduate degrees in the United Kingdom next year.
“Steve is an outstanding member of the Georgetown community,” said Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia. “We are pleased his achievements are being recognized with this prestigious scholarship and we look forward to the certain success of such an enthusiastic, innovative and driven young leader and teacher.”
After graduating from Georgetown in May 2007, Silvius began teaching secondary mathematics at Animo Leadership High School, a public charter high school in Los Angeles. His interest in helping others learn and succeed is well established. While Silvius was still in high school, he founded HCS Educators—a company focused on bringing SAT Prep courses to students in San Bernadino, Calif. who would otherwise not receive such preparation due to monetary and informational barriers. He and his business partner ran every aspect of the business from marketing to teaching the courses. Concerned with serving those most in need, they donated 10% of revenues back to students in the form of scholarships and assistance for their high school, allowing some students to attend courses for free.
“Steve is on a crusade to reverse math ignorance in this country,” wrote John Glavin, Professor of English, University Fellowship Secretary and Director of the John Carroll Programs in his nomination letter to the Marshall committee. “Everyone, [Silvius] insists, can learn; everyone should be allowed to learn—and (here is the core of his credo) no one, properly taught, is unable to do math,” wrote Glavin. Silvius joins 15 other Georgetown alumni who have been awarded Marshall Scholarships. The scholarship recognizes young Americans of high ability who hold an undergraduate degree from an accredited four-year college or university in the United States with a minimum GPA of 3.7. The program links future American leaders to the United Kingdom by funding two years of graduate study at a university in the UK.
At Georgetown Silvius founded Georgetown Outreach for Learning and Education (GOLE) to bring together a variety of small groups of service-minded students doing all kinds of tutoring and related work in the inner city. Working together, the groups established ways to allocate resources and offered training that exponentially increased their effectiveness. Even after his graduation, GOLE continues as one of the most robust undergraduate organizations.
Driven to seek solutions and improve processes, Silvius is both passionate and critical of the way math is often taught today. “Problem-solving, critical thinking, analysis, logic and creativity are the truly important skills in mathematics,” wrote Silvius in his personal statement for the Marshall committee. “These are too often stifled by curricula which insist on emphasizing procedural skills, complemented by teachers who only teach the how and not the why of mathematics,” he continued.
As a Marshall Scholar, Silvius plans to pursue masters degrees at either University of Oxford in Educational Research Methodology and in Mathematics and the Foundations of Computer Science or at University of Warwick in Mathematics and Mathematics Education. Ultimately, he hopes to pursue a PhD in Mathematics Education.
“It is my plan to dedicate my career to developing and implementing a new system of mathematics,” wrote Silvius. “If we cannot convince the schools to change their approach, we will show them that they must.” Silvius graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown College in 2007 and was awarded the Math department’s Dahlgren Medal for Excellence. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, a national honor society for undergraduate students and was a John Carroll Fellow, a highly selective program offered to only 3% of any undergraduate class.
The Marshall Scholarship program was founded by an Act of Parliament in 1953 and commemorates the humane ideals of the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan). They are funded by the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and administered by the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission in the UK. The selection process in the United States is managed by the British Council, on behalf of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the regional Consulates-General in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.
