Mathematical Association of America - Residential Assistant for Mathematical Olympiad Program
In the summer of 2024, I got the incredible opportunity to work as a resident assistant for the yearly Mathematical Olympiad Program (MOP) hosted at Carnegie Mellon University. MOP is a program where the top Mathematical Olympiad contestants from around the country (and around the world!) come together to study, practice, and take placement tests for the Mathematical Olympiad. I was able to meet so many amazing students and instructors alike, and I have never been surrounded by a more talented and inspiring group of people.
The Carnegie campus was beautiful, and the picture shown to the right is a group camp photo in the number garden. The faces of campers are blurred to protect their identities, but I still had to include the photo as it is something I am very proud to have been a part of!
The USA Mathematical Olympiad Team went on to win first place in the 2024 competition—congrats, Team USA!
Ohio University - Peer Assisted Learning Leader
My favorite job I have ever worked, and the one I am most passionate about, is being a Peer Assisted Learning Leader for Precalculus at Ohio University. I love this job more than anything, and I have so much fun doing it. My description of it I will keep brief, however, as you can explore everything about my job here on this site! I host everything for my students at romansimkins.com/pal, where you can explore my worksheets, presentations, and even see some reviews left by students. Feel free to check it out!
Pharmscript - Pharmacy Technician
One of my goals for summer jobs was to do an interesting and unique job each summer to broaden my horizons. For one summer, I worked in a pharmacy as a pharmacy technician. Pennsylvania is one of the few states that allows people to be hired as a pharmacy technician without a specific license, and this pharmacy had no patient contact, making it a perfect middle ground for someone like me with no experience. The company packaged and shipped medicine to nursing homes, so the job was closer to that of a fulfillment and distribution position; we just happened to fulfill and distribute medicine.
As I gained experience in the position, I was transferred to a prepackaging role, where I operated a machine that quickly packaged large quantities of pills at once for medicines that were frequently in demand. Pictured to the left is a photo of me in scrubs (which I rarely wore) next to the machine that I spent many hours operating, packing medicine.
Oxford Solutions - Database Assistant
I worked for the recruiting company Oxford Solutions in the summer after I graduated high school. I started off doing basic data entry but eventually got to work on a really exciting Excel project. I was tasked with creating a master chart that indexed every job placed by an employee of the company and calculated commissions. This spreadsheet also automatically sorted and populated charts on separate pages allowing for quick data analysis of company performance. This saved employees hours time doing tedious manual entries. As far as I know, the company still uses this spreadsheet to this day in order to analyze data and increase efficiency.