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Life Adds Up for UH Maui College Math Tutor

Life Adds Up for UH Maui College Math Tutor
November 24, 2015 Ho‘oulu Staff
In Features
Photo: Christian Innela

Photo: Christian Innela

By Aaliyah Baker

More often than not, a college student’s life can be compared to a puzzle made up of one million pieces that they must put together, and only seems to be completed come graduation time. This is no easy feat, and more often than not these tiny puzzle pieces seem unreasonable and mismatched, hard to work with even—but for UH Maui College student Saxon Knight, putting this puzzle together has become a slightly easier task, as he began this long and arduous process with the corner pieces in hopes of achieving his final goal as soon and as simply as possible.

Saxon Knight was born in Round Rock, Texas, and grew up in Cedar Park for most of his life, while also living off and on in Galveston Island, a sandbar in Texas. An only child, Saxon moved to Maui with his single mother in 2012. He currently lives in Paia, but has lived in Wailuku Heights, Haiku, Waikapu and Napili before finally settling down. “It’s okay. I don’t really pay attention or get attached to places anymore,” Knight said. “I’ve moved over 25 times in my life, and I’m 22 years old. I’ll be 23 this November.”

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That being said, Knight would like to travel or even go off the grid after finishing his college degrees; he has given himself a number of options.

Knight will be graduating this coming spring with a dual degree in Natural Science and Liberal Arts, and will likely attend UH Manoa to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering (BSME). From there, Knight will move to a place of his own choosing or continue to pursue his Master of Science in Astronautical Engineering (MSAE), but is still unsure of which school he would like to attend. He views the BSME as a minimum education requirement.

“To me, the BSME is like finishing high school,” Knight said. Whereas, he said, the MSAE is his secondary goal. “I am an introvert, a scientist, a rational, and a philosopher,” he explained. “I’m on the path to becoming an engineer.”

Clearly, engineering is Knight’s passion.

“I’ve always loved science, understanding how things worked, and applying that understanding to create or design new things. I love systems, and I love designing them,” he said. “Engineering is a gateway to a life of doing what I love as a career.” For an example of his ability, Knight recently programmed a drone to do automated flying, having demoed it at an event held on the UH Maui College campus.

“As a math and science tutor, I try to impart reasoning skills to students beyond just missing information and understanding,” Knight said. When asked if learning was the most important thing to him, he responded simply: “It’s like food: I need it, but no—it’s not the most important thing.”

Knight (third from right) at the 2015 Akamai Symposium. Photo: Derae Shibata

Knight (third from right) at the 2015 Akamai Symposium. Photo: Derae Shibata

Knight currently holds a 4.0 GPA, and he was self-taught. He received his GED diploma at the age of 18 while he was still living in Texas. He had tested into calculus and wanted to take a course in physics. He has taken Calculus I, II, III and IV; Physics 151, 170, and 272; and Chemistry 161, and 162 with labs. Even in his free time, Saxon would learn more about these subjects and teach others. He spent his teenage years on Second Life, an online virtual world, and he learned to script and to use physics and math to create things. “I was mentored and later mentored others as well,” he said. “Lately, my free time represents my time away from work and school, away from tutoring, programming, and learning, but I can’t really get away from learning. I just did 24 lessons on Duolingo today.”

He is a fairly busy individual, but when he can find the time to do it, Knight will schedule everything for the semester. These calendars will usually cover everything in every syllabus, as well as class times, his work schedule, even when he should eat, sleep and do his homework. He has even planned times to be spontaneous on occasion. Unfortunately this semester has been so busy for him that he hasn’t had the chance to add anything more than class times to this semester’s calendar.

“I don’t want to need to plan everything, but without planning, I am anxious and can’t focus,” he admitted. “I feel like I’m neglecting something important, and I feel blind.”

Knight strives for stability. “Stability leads to optimization. I want everything in my life to be as efficient as possible.” This isn’t to say that he doesn’t recognize the freedom in spontaneity, as he does embrace it from time to time regardless of whether it is planned or not, but his responsibilities take priority over his own freedom, and his responsibilities make up the entirety of this metaphorical puzzle.

Knight currently works on campus as a math and science tutor in the Ho‘okahua STEM lab. He started in Spring 2014, and recently began working for UH Maui College as a Cyber Security Researcher this semester.

If you are in need of a math and science tutor, visit the Ho‘okahua STEM lab in Ka Lama 202 and schedule an appointment with Saxon Knight. The STEM lab is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays.

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