A neuroscience executive, a high school senior, and a third grader show how Indiana’s STEM Changemakers meet the hard part head-on.
Every month, Exponentia Prime partners with the Indianapolis Recorder to profile three Indiana Changemakers at three stages of the journey: a working professional, a student in advanced coursework, and an elementary explorer just getting started. This month: a Lilly neuroscience executive, a high school senior who chose the hardest classes on offer, and a third grader who says nothing is hard. Three ages, one shared habit: facing the hard part head-on.
The mentor
Paul Ardayfio
Associate vice president, Global Patient Safety Medical, Neuroscience, Eli Lilly and Co.
President, National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) Indy
“Your mindset matters. The lens you view your life, how you process problems, can have a tremendous impact on your career trajectory.”
Paul Ardayfio was fascinated by one question long before he had a career: why do people behave the way they do? By college, curiosity had made the choice. A chemistry professor asked if he had ever considered a career in the sciences, and what stayed with him was the professor’s lack of surprise.
Today he is associate vice president of Global Patient Safety Medical for Neuroscience at Eli Lilly and Co. and president of NOBCChE Indy. The road was not easy. He names self-doubt and a learning disability as his hardest obstacles. Did he ever almost give up? “Most days,” he said.
His advice: find a mentor, and find a program with like-minded people. And scientists are not all geniuses; emotional intelligence and persistence matter just as much.
“Your mindset matters,” he said. “The lens you view your life, how you process problems, can have a tremendous impact on your career trajectory.”
The future engineer
Arthur Rhea
High school senior
International School of Indiana
“Even if they do fail by attempting something difficult, that experience will make all the easier courses or challenges that much less difficult.”
Arthur Rhea won his first gold medal in first grade at a Math Pentathlon competition, and it showed him math was something he could excel at, not just enjoy.
Now a high school senior, he chose the hardest STEM classes his school offers: International Baccalaureate Higher Level math, physics and chemistry. He heard they would be easy. Then he was humbled. Higher Level math is toughest, he says, because exam questions rarely match what you practiced. The difficulty is applying what you know.
His routine has three steps: a YouTube course on the topic, a review of every question he missed, then practice tests until he feels confident.
His biggest challenge is outside the classroom. Injuries have limited his athletics for much of the last two years, so he takes each day as it comes and focuses on what he can control. His mother keeps him organized and believing in himself.
His advice to a younger student: “Even if they do fail by attempting something difficult, that experience will make all the easier courses or challenges that much less difficult.”
Next up: computer science, ideally game development, with quantum computing as a backup.
The problem solver
Scott Hampton
Elementary school student
Tindley Summit Academy
“No, nothing is hard. I take my time and think about it.”
Scott Hampton is nine, a third grader at Tindley Summit Academy, and his favorite number is 9 “because I am 9 years old.” For Hampton, math started with counting money and grew into multiplication. In second grade he scored very high in math, and at Exponentia Prime’s Math Jams event he won the 100 game.
He studies at home and at the Boys and Girls Club. When a problem looks tough, he looks around the room for clues. Has anything been hard? “No, nothing is hard,” he said. “I take my time and think about it.”
His mother has supported him the whole way. He plans to be a soccer player and wants to invent a computer that helps college students. His goal for the computer program: “It would be fun and you would learn a lot to graduate from college.”
One mission
A mentor, a student and an inventor in the making: three ages, one approach. Name the hard part, take it a step at a time and keep going. Ardayfio is helping others find mentors, Rhea is heading toward software, and Hampton is already designing his computer.
Exponentia Prime is an Indianapolis-based organization building the STEM pipeline for urban youth through math circles, competition preparation and math camps. We turn academic excellence into something visible, normal, and celebrated in the community. Visit exponentiaprime.com to learn more.
