Strength in Numbers By Matt Seyer             A new year at Helias High School entails many different things for incoming juniors.  They will suffer through the hand-cramping, straight-lecture American History class with Coach Jeffries. They will devote many Sunday mornings to preparing for the sacrament of Confirmation. Upperclassmen superiority will infect them with an irrational sense of high school immortality. However, for some junior math students, this year will involve being pushed to the limits of their intellectual, physical, and emotional endurance. Willpower will be tested. Minds will be electrified. Previous ideas of exactly what a challenging math class is will be thrown out the window. Some will fail, and no one will come away unscathed; but those who survive will possess the skills necessary to succeed in college mathematics. Countless hours of frustration and endless rewards await this year’s juniors who are courageous enough to take Matt Zeitz’s accelerated pre-calculus class. Matt Zeitz has attended and gratudated from Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly known as University of Missouri-Rolla) with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He worked for seven years in this field for Procter and Gamble before deciding to teach part-time. He currently teaches two courses at Helias: accelerated pre-calculus and Advanced Placement (AP) Physics. While his AP Physics class is commendable, many students find accelerated pre-calculus to be the tougher of the two – not without good reason. Zeitz tries his hardest to compress as much math into a one-year course as he possibly can. A brief summary of the topics he covers are as follows:  Contemporary Pre-Calculus (by Thomas Hungerford), Modern Analytic Geometry (by Wooten/Fleming), twenty math ACT packets, ten science ACT packets, eight MathFax tests, six official Math Team tests, and twelve sets of outrageously complex “Cool Problems.” Covering two complete textbooks in one year might seem a fantastic feat in and of itself; but once the other course materials are heaped on top of that, Zeitz gives the appearance of someone attempting the impossible. His students, however, will find that he is capable and more than up to the challenge. Zeitz’s teaching style is characteristic of all good teachers; enthusiasm, good attitude, and a unique approach are included every day. What sets him apart is the astounding pace at which he teaches. He moves at top speed as soon as the bell rings and often finishes ten minutes before class is over. This does not mean those who get lost get left behind – far from it. Zeitz will stop as often as he has to in order to make sure his students understand the concepts as well as he does. He teaches his students the basics and conditions them to the point where those basics become second nature. He assigns old math and science ACT packets in the hopes that students’ scores will rise. (Over the last few years, the average improvement in students’ math and science ACT scores has been +5 and +4.7, respectively.)  He gives his students the same tests taken by Helias’s Math Team, of which he is the head. His “Cool Problems” force students to utilize every ounce of mathematical knowledge that they possess in order to solve seemingly impossible equations. He immerses his students in everything that has anything to do with math. While students doubtlessly feel the pressure, most can’t help but laugh at Zeitz’s ridiculous jokes and sarcastic remarks. He creates such a relaxed learning environment that students feel comfortable saying anything, asking anything, and trying anything. He rarely gets angry simply because he rarely has occasion to. As a former engineer, he often fields questions about what his old job involved and the college courses he took to get there, giving students a good idea about what his class is doing for them. He welcomes any and all students with a desire to learn. If anyone is serious about doing well in college mathematics, Matt Zeitz is your man.