By: Ashir Rao

Public Relations Manager

Sophomore David Roh is pushing mathematics to new heights at LGHS.To the amazement of his classmates, Roh started his high school math journey by taking AP Calculus BC, the highest level math class at LGHS, in his freshman year. Despite his impressive skills, Roh does not claim to be a genius. His story is one of dedication. In fact, he says that he wasn’t that good at math, or even studying in general, in seventh grade. This weighed heavily on him throughout his early life, so he decided to make a concerted attempt to improve. The first subject he decided to boost was math, because it was the easiest in which to track progress. He started with one hour of math practice per day, and he then worked his way up to five hours under shelter-in-place guidelines. Roh blazed his way through several math courses, eventually taking the Calculus AB exam in eighth grade, allowing him to take Calculus BC here at LGHS. He currently studies  Multivariable Calculus at West Valley College, probably amazing his classmates there as well. 

Roh is also on the leadership team of Math Club. The youngest student on the club’s board, Roh helps create presentations for fellow math enthusiasts. His favorite part of mathematics is differential equations, because “[they have] real life applications.” Recently, he has started studying for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME), which is available to those who score in the top five percent of students who take the American Mathematics Competition 12 (AMC 12). Competitive math is different from curriculum-based math; he wants to start competitive math because he is “pretty much done” with curriculum math. Despite his  challenging course load, including English 10 Honors and AP European History, he hopes to find more time to study math. 

In addition to joining Math Club, Roh recently joined LGHS’ Speech and Debate club. Though he considers himself  “more of a STEM person”, Roh involves himself in diverse activities. He finds debate fun, sometimes more so than math questions. Alongside debate, he also conducts historical research.

When not applying his mind to school, Roh likes to relax by taking walks. He also enjoys sleeping — a healthy habit, especially for a high schooler. 

In the future, Roh wants to take more community college courses, such as Linear Algebra and Differential Equations. If West Valley College runs out of courses for him, he wants to take courses at San José State University. In the long term, Roh would love to major in STEM, but he still is not sure where his life will take him. Whether he’s elegantly solving math problems or on a refreshing walk, always be on the lookout for David Roh!