Montse Cordero, ’17, probably wouldn’t have become interested in teaching if it hadn’t been for Jo Boaler’s introductory seminar on mathematics education freshman year. “I don’t think I would’ve been able to stick with math, either,” says Cordero, who ended up majoring in math with an interdisciplinary honors in education and working as a student with YouCubed, a center Boaler founded at Stanford that provides resources for teaching and learning the subject.

Cordero joined the team full-time after graduation, designing math tasks and helping with research projects and professional development programs. “Some days my work is cutting and pasting construction paper, and other days it’s doing statistical analysis on data we collected. It’s like school part two, honestly.”

Cordero considered looking for a job elsewhere as graduation loomed, but the Costa Rica native ultimately decided to stay at Stanford. “Coming from a different place, I have different ideas and that’s valued here. Both at YouCubed and the GSE as a whole, peoples’ differences are something we build upon – they’re a strength.”