Caroline Case
The Potomac School
Some people look at rows of equations and see a dry list of numbers. Caroline Case sees elegance and precision. Math has been her favorite subject since preschool, when she loved to count objects and enjoyed recognizing patterns. She scored a 790 out of 800 on her math SAT. For her college essay, she imagined being paired in a tutorial with French mathematician, inventor and theologian Blaise Pascal, who lived in the 1600s. “He would be the perfect partner because we’re both curious about math, God and their intersection,” she wrote. It took her a while, she says, before she realized that not everyone spends their free time thinking about math and how it works.
“I love things that are consistent, and rules that hold forever I think are very beautiful,” says the McLean teen.
Case is also a role model with a penchant for service. As a senior, she was a student leader of her school’s Math and Science Collaboration Center, which provides instruction and enrichment activities for students. She tutors disadvantaged children, and served as a peer mentor in two Potomac School programs—one in which she talked to underclassmen about drugs, alcohol, sexuality and bullying; and another for sixth-grade girls dealing with middle-school angst. “In all of her interactions, she displays sincerity, humility and generosity of spirit,” says Doug McLane, head of the upper school at Potomac School.
A student athlete, Case captained her school’s junior varsity field hockey and lacrosse teams. She was also a member of the school’s robotics team. She will go to Williams College this fall and hopes to become a professor.
Her love of numbers is contagious, observes Matthew Lijoi, who teaches an advanced math class covering multivariable calculus and number theory. “She’ll get to a result and her hands will go up into the air because she’s just so excited she figured it out.”