When student Kira Kaviani attended »ĆąĎĘÓƵ (RCBC) for the first time, the institution went by a different name– Burlington County College. Like the college, Kaviani was different then than now, too; instead of computer science, which she studies now, she majored in photography.
The returning student fondly recalls her time as a photography student as someone with a strong interest in photography, but it wasn’t the career path she was destined to pursue.
Alongside her photography classes, Kaviani was taking a computer science class for fun. Since she was a child, Kaviani has loved computers. Her major didn’t reflect that, and it was all for one reason– she was bad at math.
“That kind of scared me out of the degree program,” Kaviani said. “That was why I ended up not doing that.”
Eventually, she stepped away from the photography studio, took on some jobs, including at a Google Maps subcontractor and a family business, and focused on personal development. Soon, as she was already swept up with these projects, she decided that going back to RCBC and finishing her degree was a necessary credential to show alongside her skills.
“I’m not the kind of person who can very happily not do what they wanted to do the first time,” Kaviani said. “I remembered RCBC being a good school. I remember them taking care of me before. So I felt good about coming back. I can say that for sure.”
This time, she would take computer science. Familiar with the curriculum, her computer science classes went smoothly. Quickly, she became president of the computer science club and a tutor in computer science at the tutoring center. But the math classes would be a problem, as she was well aware. Bolstered by the “make it or break it” mentality, her “math redemption arc” began.
The nights filled with studying and grinding were many. The hours spent just sitting with a graphing calculator, testing assumptions, were countless. The best way to conquer her numerical arch-rival was to double down on it, to inundate her life with it.
Previously afraid of the subject, Kaviani has now passed Pre-Calculus and the daunting Calculus II, a class that many people changed their majors over.
Once she started, she didn’t stop. The entire reason she refrained from getting her degree last time turned into extra-curriculars; she took part in two math competitions and added pre-calculus and calculus to her tutoring slate.
“I decided that I wasn’t gonna get better if I didn’t do it,” Kaviani said.
Back when she endured her math classes, Kaviani would take the time to reach out to computer science friends to inquire about the frequency of advanced math in the computer science field. While math isn't rampant in the field, it’s still relevant in more ways than one would expect, which Kaviani has come to accept.
“I guess, on a ramp to algorithmic thinking, then on a ramp to associating a mental model of some computational logic with an outcome… I guess I see it now that I’ve had to do it, now that I sat and cried through it,” Kaviani joked.
This new knowledge will certainly influence where she goes next. Right now, Kaviani is considering her transfer options. She has ambitions to attend anywhere from a New Jersey state university to an Ivy League school like Cornell University or Brown University. Advanced math could be essential for her if she considers an engineering program.
Once she gets where she’s going, registering for math class won’t be so scary.
“I can’t believe that’s actually behind me,” she said.
