Senior Spotlight: Ben Gabrielson

Ben Gabrielson loves math. Now a senior at Niwot High School, he says his biggest challenge in high school was running out of math classes to take. After exhausting Niwot's math class offerings early in high school, he began taking classes concurrently at Front Range Community College.

Last semester, Gilbert finished the classes offered at Front Range and is currently working with Niwot's math teacher, Megan Schlagel, to teach himself discrete mathematics as an independent study. Gabrielson says Schlagel was pivotal in fostering his love of math. "She is the only math teacher I ever had at Niwot, and she helped me learn calculus and made it possible for me to teach myself discrete math." Schlagel also taught AP Calculus BC, Gabrielson's favorite class he has taken in high school.

For Gabrielson, math is more of a hobby than a school subject. He loves finding new ways to engage with math outside of school. "While math may sound like an in-school hobby, which is partly true, I also compete in math competitions and have taken several extracurricular math courses in subjects such as probability and number theory. My love for math has shaped me into a person who loves trying to solve difficult problems, which is a major part of who I am," Gabrielson said.

Math is not Gabrielson's only passion. His other major interest is soccer. He has played soccer on the Niwot soccer team all four years of high school, earned two letters, and this season was named one of the varsity captains.

Gabrielson said, "I am proud of keeping straight A's throughout high school and I am also proud of being a captain on the soccer team." One of his most memorable high school moments took place during his junior year at a pivotal soccer game, when his team won the second round of the state playoffs against Skyline High School. As one of Niwot soccer's biggest rivals, defeating Skyline made the victory especially meaningful to him.

Reflecting on his high school years, Gabrielson takes pride in becoming more independent. The biggest advice he would give to incoming high schoolers is to "play a sport for their school and to take advantage of AP/IB/Pre-IB classes."

Looking ahead, Gabrielson plans to attend Texas Tech University, where he's been offered a full-ride scholarship. He plans to double major in math and either computer science or physics. He's not sure what the future might hold for him after that, but he's excited to take on the challenge.