Among Blair’s many math offerings for 2018-2019 is a new course designed to give students a high-level introduction to the major concepts involved in data collection and analysis. Advanced statistics covers topics such as sampling, describing patterns, random probability and statistical inference, and its instructor, math department chair Caren Standfast ’95, is eager to develop student’s skills around these important topics. 

“No matter what major they choose in college or what career they eventually pursue, students will likely come back to what they’re learning in advanced statistics because that’s the kind of math that’s most used in everyday life,” she said. “In this age of Big Data and the Internet of Things, it’s vital to be able to understand the meaning behind numbers that are presented to us. Thus, one of my main goals for the class is to ensure that students have the ability to look at the world through a quantitative lens.”

Students Drive Discussion

To help the five students in her class—each of whom has already taken or is currently enrolled in a calculus course—develop that quantitative lens, Mrs. Standfast is following the Advanced Placement (AP) curriculum, and students may sit for the exam, if they wish, next spring. Meanwhile, she keeps things interesting by letting class members’ curiosity drive daily discussion, which is often centered on data that high school seniors, juniors and sophomores find especially relevant. For example, the class recently analyzed PSAT scores and looked into “excellence of college” rankings and tried to create their own model of college ranking.

Liam Junkermann ’19, who finds working with and analyzing real-world data the most interesting part of the class, “jumped right in” to PSAT data analysis. “I tried to find trends in math versus reading scores or math versus total scores then analyzed whether gender or grade had anything to do with the trends I noticed,” he said. Liam is concurrently working on a computer science independent project in which he is attempting to build a machine learning model to determine if a given photo contains a car. “The mathematical and statistical part of my computer science project has helped me understand what we’re learning in statistics from a different perspective,” he observed. “I’m enjoying this class, and I look forward to learning more throughout the year.”

The project involving research into U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings and the creation of a more effective algorithm intrigued Dylan Benson ’19. “At first, this task appeared incredibly daunting, but with a bit of time and research, I have found it riveting,” he said. Having enrolled in advanced statistics because he is interested in pursuing an actuarial science major in college, he hopes that learning more about this branch of mathematics—many components of which are key to his potential major—will confirm that this is, in fact, the professional field he would like to enter. 

For her part, Mrs. Standfast reinforces to students that while their opinions on topics such as college rankings and test scores certainly matter, those opinions should not be a part of their statistical analysis. “One of the most important things students learn in this class is that statistical models should be transparent and free of bias,” she said. “Our focus is on analytical data and the sources behind that data.”

Return to Blair

Teaching advanced statistics is one of many duties Mrs. Standfast has taken on since joining Blair’s faculty as math department chair last summer. She also manages the department, teaches algebra 2, coaches field hockey and girls’ lacrosse, and serves as housemaster of Mason Hall. In addition, she and her husband, Geoff, are parents of five children: Annie, a junior at the U.S. Naval Academy, 10-year-old triplets Jack, Brady and Geoff, and 8-year-old Tommy.

While all of this keeps Mrs. Standfast exceptionally busy, she is happy that her life and career paths have brought her back to Blair. Having attended the School for a postgraduate year in 1994-1995, she credits Blair with instilling in her the independence and autonomy that prepared her to excel at the U.S. Naval Academy. After graduating from USNA in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in oceanography, she served as an adjutant in the Marine Corps before earning her MAEd at the University of Phoenix in 2008 and beginning her career as a math teacher.

“I discovered my love of teaching while serving in the Marine Corps,” Mrs. Standfast said. “Before taking on any role or situation in the military, education always comes first. When my service obligation was up, I decided to give teaching a try.”

Over the past 10 years, Mrs. Standfast has taught math and physics at St. Paul’s School in Covington, Louisiana, and then math and computer science at Culver Academies in Culver, Indiana, yet her own independent school experience at Blair served as a constant touchstone. She consulted some of her Blair teachers before deciding on a teaching career and, more recently, spoke to faculty members about programming in the Chiang Center for Innovation and Collaboration, since she was managing a similar collaboration center at Culver Academies. When she learned that Blair was seeking a new math department chair, she knew that this was her opportunity to return to her boarding school roots.

“Coming back to Blair has been fun, funny, comfortable and challenging all at the same time,” she reflected, noting that Blair has provided exactly the close-knit community atmosphere she and her husband want for their family. “It’s fun to return to all the places I frequented as an 18-year-old and funny to realize that old friends like [Associate Director of Admission] Teddy Wenner ’96 and [Director of Stewardship] Courtnay Stanford ’95 are now colleagues and that we’re all grown up. And having many of my former teachers as mentors has made for a comfortable return to Blair—it’s great to know they are still here to help me navigate the challenges ahead.”