During the last week in January, many juniors and seniors were greeted by an unfamiliar face in their math classes.
A few of them had already heard before stepping into room 306 that this person had worked at the fourth best high school in NYC according to US News and World Report, perhaps making some of these students a little worried for just how strict this person would be. However, it also floated around that he had a similar lighthearted spirit to history teacher John Jacobs, which maybe resulted in a few sighs of relief.
This educator is none other than Simon Lu, Baruch’s newest math teacher.
Before taking this position, he covered for an Algebra II teacher on maternity leave at Stuyvesant High School for two and a half years. Eventually, the principal at “Stuy” informed him that BCCHS was in dire need of a new math teacher.
Laird Jonas was leaving his position as Baruch’s pre-calculus, calculus and Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics teacher after two stretches of working at BCCHS due to health issues causing his retirement. He was first hired in 1999 and again in 2017.
After an online interview, Lu was invited to come into the school for a visit. However, he declined the offer because he didn’t feel comfortable teaching AP Statistics.
“I don’t want to teach an AP course that will set up students for failure because I don’t know the material, I’ve never taught [it], I’ve never even taken a course in stats,” said Lu.
However, he was ultimately convinced and made a trip to Baruch.
When he met Jonas, who didn’t want to have to leave, Lu changed his decision of rejection.
“I felt bad. Honestly, I saw him cry,” Lu said. “He was in tears because kids were giving him farewell gifts, and I was like, ‘Okay, I have to fill this role. I have to help him’.”
And so, Lu took the job.
To accommodate the challenge with AP Statistics, those students now learn the material online as Lu acts as a facilitator in the classroom.
Additionally, teaching pre-calculus and calculus in his new environment has challenged Lu. At Stuyvesant, he had a clearly-outlined curriculum and knew he had to prepare his students for a final exam. This isn’t the case at Baruch, where he has more control over what’s taught. He said he’s considering making a final.
Lu said at Stuyvesant, it was like, “‘You need to do this, this, this, this, this by June otherwise you’re not coming back,’ It’s as simple as that.”
Another aspect Lu has been getting used to at Baruch is getting to know where students are with the content. He’s now working on reviewing some foundational content while moving along with the curriculum.
While Lu is trying to slow down for some students, he is still teaching concepts more quickly, which some appreciate.
“He’s going at a faster pace, which honestly is better,” said junior Jedidiah Park, who has Lu for both pre-calculus and AP Statistics.
Park described Lu as “chill” and “funny.” His first impression on Lu was based on Lu’s past workplace.
“I knew he was gonna be a good teacher just ‘cause he comes from Stuy,” said Park.
Senior Nico Smarro, who takes Lu’s calculus course, also described him as “funny” and had a similar first impression.
“He said that he was from Stuyvesant, so I was kind-of, like, ‘Okay, this is a big change,’ because Mr. Jonas is such a laid-back dude,” she said. She also had Jonas for AP Statistics as a junior and was picked by him as Math Student of the Month in November.
Lu coming from a top school made Smarro nervous at first and she is still getting used to the heavier workload.
“I think that Mr. Lu wants to teach us a lot. He is very encouraging and passionate about making sure that we understand everything, yet it’s a little fast-paced,” Smarro said.
She said the new assignments make her think more and work for more of the class period.
Outside of teaching, Lu trades stocks, which is the foundation for his retirement plan.
“If I just day trade and I don’t make any mistakes — the key word is ‘don’t make any mistakes’ — I could retire,” Lu said. Day trading means buying and selling the same stock within 24 hours.
Besides keeping up with the stock market, he enjoys playing Valorant (a video game) and used to play handball often but he said, “Now I feel like my bones are brittle. My back hurts, everything hurts, I’m just in agony at this point.”
He was born and raised in Brooklyn, where he still resides. He got his undergraduate degree in theoretical mathematics at Hunter College.
“I got baited. I thought it was the applied one,” he said. Lu hated his major for the first couple of years because of this mistake. He then obtained his teaching degree at Brooklyn College.
Now, this new Baruchian said he’s “glad to be here.”
