ROUND ROCK, Texas — Round Rock High School Senior Aditya Velamuri tutors his fellow students in calculus. He knows how to teach others because he taught himself calculus when he was living in India.
"I think it is much easier when you have already made that mistake yourself to help people,” said Velamuri of the importance of students helping students.
When he came to Round Rock last year, he saw students needed help with calculus, so he started a calculus club and started doing tutoring.
"Lots of people were afraid of math and they didn't like calculus because people thought it was some alien thing,” said Velamuri. “So, I was like, 'Why can’t I do something to change that perspective and get a few people interested in it?'"
As more and more students came to Velamuri for help preparing for the AP Calculus exam last spring, he noticed there weren't great learning resources for them. He felt there needed to be books that were shorter and more concise. So, in March he started working on a project to change that and last week his project was completed.
Velamuri published "The Seven Day Calculus Review,” which is now being sold on Amazon. It is a step-by-step learning guide for AP and college calculus students.
"Publishing a book is really, I mean, lots of people think it's great, but I think it's about providing a tool to students,” said Velamuri.
"I definitely have not met very many kids like Aditya,” smiled Travis McKinney, a Round Rock High School calculus teacher.
McKinney said he never had Aditya as a student, since he already taught himself before coming to Round Rock High.
"He is the only student I know of that taught himself calculus,” said McKinney. “It's not an easy task.”
But McKinney did sponsor the Calculus Club Velamuri started last year.
"He had dozens of people showing up,” said McKinney. “He was teaching freshmen and sophomores, who are taking, like, geometry and algebra II. He was teaching those kids calculus."
While the kids at his school get to benefit from having him right on campus, more people can now get Velamuri’s guidance through his book.
"If you know the applications of it, it's going to be really powerful and it could potentially change the world,” said Velamuri.
Velamuri is currently applying to different colleges and hopes to study computer science.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: