Mathematics Career Panel with Secaucus High School students

On December 15th 2025 forty (40) mathematically tallented students from Secaucus High School visited Ramapo College to attend an event co-organized by Dr. Katarzyna Kowal, Associate Professor of Mathematics at RamapoCollege, who is also the advisor of Ramapo College Chapter of National Mathematics Honor Society, and by Mr. Jarred Semelmacher, who is a mathematics teacher at Secaucus High School and the advisor of the high school’s Mathematics Honor Society.

The event was titled “Secaucus High School Mathematics Honor Society meets Ramapo College Mathematics Honor Society”. The event included:

• Welcoming remarks by Dean of TAS, Dr. Benny Chan
• Brief interactive sample lecture in mathematics by Dr. Katarzyna Kowal to demonstrate to high school students what Mathematics lectures look like in college
• Presentation by Dr. Katarzyna regarding the benefits of majoring in mathematics at Ramapo College
• Presentation by Dr. Scott Frees, the director and founder of Masters Program in Applied Mathematics at Ramapo College, about the benefits of getting a Master’s Degree in this program
• Dicussion Panel with DMC students, DMC faculty, and industry experts as panelists

During Discussion Panel, the panelists were answering questions that Secaucus High School students had regarding: majoring in mathematics and related disciplines, graduate programs, undergraduate student research in mathematics, what makes Ramapo unique, careers in mathematics and related disciplines, opportunities that mathematics program brings, mathematics competitions.

The student panelists were mathematics majors, data science majors and computer science majors: Afrona Tozluku, Em Dickstein, Amir Sela, Abdurahim Sanginov, Justin Haskoor.

The faculty panelists were: Dr. Debbie Yuster, Dr. Scott Frees, Dr. Katarzyna Kowal (panel moderator).

The industry experts on the panel were:
Dr. Paul Centore and Mr. Paul Park (Wall Street expert).

Mr. Jarred Semelmacher is a recent Ramapo College graduate with Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics, a certified mathematics high school teacher, and a former officer and an inductee of Ramapo College Chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon Mathematics Honor Society. He received a Masters of Special Education from Ramapo College and is now in the process of obtaining a Masters degree in Computer Science Education. Mr. Semelmacher is also an Adjunct Professor of Mathematics at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

The visiting students had their campus tour later that day, followed by lunch on camus. They were invited to attend the DMC Fair that will be held in April. They were inspired by their visit at Ramapo College.

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