MENLO SCHOOL • SINCE 1915

Reeve Garrett

Pronouns: he/him/his

Upper School Mathematics

Mathematics Teacher

Biography

Born and raised in Orange County, I am excited to return to California to teach mathematics at Menlo School. While my interest in and aptitude for mathematics began at a young age, I was first inspired to major in mathematics by one of my professors in my first quarter at UC Riverside, which I attended with the merit-based Regents’ Scholarship. As an undergraduate, I took just about every mathematics course I could, including graduate-level courses, which inspired me to pursue a doctorate in mathematics immediately after earning my Bachelor’s degree. Taking a particular interest in the branch of commutative ring theory (within abstract algebra), I moved 2000 miles across the country to pursue a doctorate in the subject at the Ohio State University. In that work, I discovered the tremendous joy that teaching brings me. In my seven years at OSU, I taught a full range of lower-division courses from Trigonometry and Precalculus to Calculus 3 and Mathematical Topics in Engineers and served as a grader for a variety of upper-division courses. Great reviews from students and faculty observers alike earned me the Phil Huneke Excellence in Teaching Award while I was a graduate student. Though I advanced to candidacy in my doctoral program and spent years on dissertation research on commutative ring theory and valuation theory, it became apparent over time that my true calling was in teaching and that pure mathematics research was not for me, so I left the program after seven years without a doctorate and began to pursue a career in education more seriously. 

In my time outside of school, I voraciously consume music from a variety of genres and try to create my own on my guitar, violin, and mandolin, and I like to explore nature, explore the city, travel, go to art galleries and museums, go to classical, rock, and jazz concerts, play video games, and broaden my knowledge both within and outside mathematics by reading all manner of books and articles. I am very passionate about all these things and welcome any opportunity to talk about them if it doesn’t get in the way of class.