NMSI Student Spotlight - Caleb Mathewos

Meet Caleb Mathewos, a Junior at Garland High School in Garland, Texas. Caleb earned the AP Scholar with Distinction Award for his exceptional scores on AP Exams in Spring 2021. We wanted to know more about Caleb, his STEM goals and experience with NMSI’s Online Student Study Sessions.

NMSI: What STEM career would you like to have?

Caleb: My plan is to pursue biology, especially with an ability to both do research and practice medicine. I think cell biology is an especially fascinating field of study, especially now with advanced technology opening so many different routes of advancement within the field.

NMSI: Were your classes remote or in-person during 2020-21? If it was remote or online, how was it for you?

Caleb: Although my school offered an in-person choice, I was an online student for both semesters of the 2020-2021 school year. It was a very interesting experience to be able to wake up and immediately get to class just by clicking a link on my bookmarks bar. I turned on my cameras most days and engaged in class whenever I could.

Since half of my classes last year were AP courses, it was helpful to have easy access to so many different resources online to help with both my coursework and preparing for the upcoming exams, and the more relaxed structure of the school day allowed me and my friends to spend more time working together on assignments and having fun.

NMSI: Share which NMSI Online Study Sessions you took and how they helped you prepare for the tests.

Caleb: I took 4 different AP exams last year: Calculus AB, Biology, World History: Modern, and Spanish Language and Culture. Since they were all in different subject areas, I had to attend 48 hours of NMSI sessions. Even though it was a daunting task and took two semesters of careful after-school planning, I really did have fun and was able to prepare for the AP exams with these sessions.

The Biology and Calculus sessions were usually small, and my friends and I would always schedule our sessions together, so we got the chance to interact with the coaches. The World History and Spanish sessions on the other hand were always packed, which allowed us to split into groups in discussions and see more viewpoints on the material we were learning.

The sessions closer to the AP exam dates were especially helpful, as we were often able to also ask about anything we had questions on while also refreshing our memories just weeks in advance of the test. I really would attribute a measure of my success in the AP exams to these 48 sessions!

NMSI: Would you recommend the Study Sessions to other students?

Caleb: Yes, they're a great way to help prepare you for your AP Exams with your peers and let you meet new people in the chat and breakout rooms as well as hang out with your friends while reviewing. The sessions are also a great way to work on your AP material while getting your tests paid off—NMSI worked with our district and paid off all four of my exams and those of other students instead of making us pay for them ourselves, just for sitting in an online session and improving our knowledge of the topics we would be tested on.

Interested in NMSI supplying these resources for your school district? Contact us.