Della started IMACS classes in fifth grade as a student in our Elements of Mathematics: Foundations program. Afterwards, she went on to our university-level classes, successfully completing both our University Computer Science curriculum and our Logic for Mathematics curriculum.
She graduated high school as a National Merit Scholarship finalist with a perfect 4.0 GPA and a 1560 on the SAT. As a rising high school senior, she completed research in biochemistry at Purdue University through the Summer Science Program, working to characterize and develop an inhibitor for a fungal enzyme with the goal of protecting crops from fungal pathogens. Della is also the recipient of numerous awards in Latin and creative writing, ranking in the top three nationally in the National Junior Classical League Creative Writing competition for three years of high school and scoring a gold medal every year on the National Latin Exam.
Della was admitted to the University of Chicago, Tufts, Harvey Mudd, Brandeis, William and Mary, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She will attend the University of Chicago, where she will major in biomolecular engineering. She would like to focus in particular on engineering cells to help create climate change solutions. After college, she plans to attend graduate school and become a research professor or run a community lab to help fight educational inequity.
IMACS gave me the confidence to appreciate the beauty of complex math problems, rather than shying away from questions that were hard to solve. I know the mathematical creativity and problem-solving skills I’ve gained from IMACS will help me greatly in all of my pursuits!
Congratulations, Della!