Kind Words from Recent Alumni:
When I got into HCSSiM, I thought I knew what to expect, and these expectations made me more excited than I had been about nearly anything else, which is why I had applied even after getting rejected 5 times from various summer programs. Then, I went there, and my expectations were exceeded in ways I hadn’t even considered! The things I had learned in high school that I had thought were math turned out to only be the tip of the iceberg, and the problems I’d been given that I had thought constituted “doing math” turned out to be only a taste of what real math is all about. At HCSSiM, I learned how to not just apply algorithms, theorems, and definitions, but make my own. In workshops, very little was explicitly handed to students. Instead, we had to figure things out ourselves, building up concepts like graphs, groups, and surreal numbers from the ground up. I learned how mathematicians actually prove things, and how these proofs are based on rigorous definitions that can be equally hard to find. And after discovering amazing things ourselves, we had to learn to communicate them, both orally and in written form.
Most importantly, I learned the value of working with others, others with whom I developed really close bonds throughout the course of the program. As it turns out, when a group of people united by a common interest live, eat, spend 8 hours each day learning new things, play games, hike, sing karaoke songs and yellow pig carols, get told by Po-Shen Loh to take a shower, be confused by the National Film Board of Canada, and generally have fun, all with each other, for 6 weeks, they become like family. On the last day of the program, as all of these people in my new K51 left, I cried. And I’m not someone who usually gets emotional.
If you get into HCSSiM, it will not be what you expect. And that’s the best part. Because once your expectations have been shattered and your brain turned inside out (without being cut or creased), so much more will become possible.
-Elijah, ’25
Coming to HCSSiM was one of the best decisions I’ve made. My mind was opened to and challenged by at least 17 kinds of math. With all the different topics encountered, especially unique topics during minis and Prime Times one would’ve never thought of, there is always something new to learn, which is one of my favorite parts about HCSSiM. Spending a summer here was such a good way for me to learn about and curate a foundation in higher levels of abstract math, not only because of the content, but because we’re asked to figure out the answer ourselves- with lots of thinking, mistakes, chalk dust, and aha! moments- really helping the things we learn stick in our heads, something that is extremely important in mathematical growth and learning. The people who form HCSSiM are also some of the best people you’ll ever meet; everyone is so kind, caring, friendly, and easy to connect with- the community is unlike anything you’ll find elsewhere.
-Audrey, ’25
Before HCSSiM, I thought I loved math. What I loved was solving problems, quickly and correctly, and being “good” at math in such a quantifiable way. Because of that, I was a little scared to come to a place where surely everyone else could solve the same problems more quickly and more correctly, where I’d inevitably fall behind. Little did I know HCSSiM – and math itself – isn’t so black-and-white. From the very first day, it was all about collaboration and just enjoying math without having to prove ourselves in any way. Seventeen heads truly are better than one, and I went on the wildest mathematical journeys with friends during problem sets, following seemingly unrelated Jstaff nudges until we miraculously ended at the constructibility of heptadecagons. The heart of the program was captured in those math movie nights laughing over the fact that none of us understood Four Line Conics, or the problem sets when the entire workshop and even the Jstaff were all working together on the same stubborn proof about “sigmatree” properties. From proving all the pita chips in the bag are wet by induction to proving apples cannot exist by contradiction, our mealtimes were filled with the silliest conversations, a reflection of the creative mathematical spirit that was apparent in every moment of every day.
At HCSSiM, I definitely did math, but I also did so much more – I learned to play bridge, folded origami pigs and polyhedra out of scratch paper, sightread Studio Ghibli duets, ran every morning, learned how to convert between hexadecimal and binary really fast, developed an obsession with anagrams, and even contradanced. And it wasn’t that I was good at most of those things – in fact, I rather sucked, but I felt so free to just give it a try. Growth felt almost effortless. In the blink of an eye, we went from proving the 3rd Grade Division Theorem to proving the 11th, 17th, and even 23rd Grade Division Theorems. Before I knew it, it was the last night, watching those intimidating-strangers-turned-closest-friends perform at the talent show, carrying “mattrices” to Kern, and crying about 17x more than I ever thought I was capable of. The value wasn’t in the hundreds of hours of classes but in the uncountably infinite ways my mind was expanded, and in the friends I will treasure for the rest of my life (as well as text immediately any time I see something vaguely mathematically interesting).”
-Dorothy ‘24
“We say HCSSiM is 6 weeks long. We are lying. It will last 17 years and you will be trapped in it forever. Just joking of course, except about that 17 years part. Your 6 weeks at the program will absolutely make you feel as if you entered a time portal and emerged a new self at the end of the program. Because, let’s face it, there is absolutely no way one can completely revise their vision of math, see enough yellow pigs for a life-time, transport an entire library back and forth across campus, and meet people that you will come to know and enjoy as if you had known them your entire life, all that in just 42 days. Simply impossible.
And yet it’s not. This is what makes this program beautiful. The math you will discover is going to blow your mind and never, ever, ever, will you be able to look upon a concept without asking why it is true. The friends you will make amongst the students and the staff will help you answer all the 17^17 questions that will be soaring through your brain every minute, whether those ponderings come to you during meals, frisbee tournaments, or even sleep (yes, you live in mods). You will make an infinite amount of memories in just a finite amount of time, I promise you!
Even after the program, yellow pigs and 17’s will appear everywhere: there was some truth in telling you that you would be trapped in it forever. HCSSiM’s alumni network is considerable so there is a solid chance you will meet other fascinating people anywhere you go (my math teacher was one and I didn’t know???!!!). Entering the portal was one of my best decisions and I hope you do it too!”
-Arthur ‘24
“HCSSiM was the most enjoyable experience related to math I’ve ever been a part of, not only because of the content, but the people and environment as well – it’s one thing to do math for six weeks, it’s something completely different to go to HCSSiM. As much as it was the idea of learning novel and advanced concepts that drew me to express my interest (apply), it was everything else we did during the six weeks that made me love it, from ultimate frisbee to movie nights and hikes and so much more.”
-Alex ‘24
“Before I came to HCSSiM the testimonials seemed fake. The students must have been paid or just have been trying to get a better report, right? Now I know the testimonials are real. The classes were well taught, the staff were knowledgeable, and the variety of topics was enormous, but that wasn’t the half of it. I truly believe that HCSSiM is the optimal way to explore math as a mathematically passionate teenager. Everyone there loved math and many had amazing qualifications, but the atmosphere was non-competitive. I loved talking to students and staff during meals and breaks: everyone’s brain worked differently but there was a shared lens of mathematical thinking that permeated every interaction. HCSSiM motivated me to pursue math in college: I had never believed that I had what it took to be a “real mathematician” and I wasn’t sure I could ever find a welcoming community that wouldn’t make me feel stupid. HCSSiM was a more wonderful community than I could ever have wished for. I put my yellow pig door label on my door back at home and I check the discord regularly; I plan to come back for YP day in the future. I only wish I had learned about it and applied earlier!”
-Tara ‘24
“HCSSiM will make you question if there really are 24 hours in a day. I mean, how else could you have proved (and named) 17 theorems, made countless conjectures, taken a 14-mile bike ride (or long hike), climbed a tree, done a 3-hour problem set, discussed modified sudoku, fixed 34 LaTeX errors, and played frisbee all in one day??? For a program all about math, something isn’t adding up…
I don’t know how you’re seemingly able to do everything in one day at HCSSiM, but it’s true!! 8 hours of math, 6 days a week, for 6 weeks sounds like a lot, and the best part is that, yeah, it is a lot!, but there’s also somehow room for so much more. I dare you to try to attend HCSSiM without learning how to play bridge, or LaTeX, or how to contradance, or how to do the thing with the chalk where you draw a really good dashed line by using only the friction between the chalk and the chalkboard.
At HCSSiM 6 weeks also feels really short. I’m pretty sure HCSSiM is the only program that lasts for less than 2 months to have such a dedicated alumni network. Alumni come back to give prime time theorems, for YP day, and to teach because of their love for the program that they attended one summer as teenagers. If you go to HCSSiM, you’ll feel the same strong bond with your classmates and the staff. Something that I loved was sitting with new people for every meal, students and staff alike.
–Sadie ‘23
“When I first settled into my dorm at Hampshire, I was absolutely terrified that I was out of my element. What was I even doing here in Massachusetts, surrounded by incredibly smart math kids who had probably done tons of competitions? And yet, by the time I left the first Workshop session, all my fears had been put to rest. The staff turned something as simple as a notetaking order into an interesting puzzle with paths and, and by the time I began thinking about the order, I felt at home.
It’s hard to encompass just how much happened over the next six weeks. From rebuilding the basics of number theory with the help of Ellie the Elephant and mysterious “Wild Wonderments”, to inventing the wackiest vocabulary for everything we could find (what other program would teach you about “glumps” and “stuples”?), contradancing, surreal numbers, and some of the most wizardly Desmos trickery I’ve ever seen. I was confused many, many times throughout the program – and I loved it. Because at HCSSiM, for every weird question or proof you just couldn’t wrap your head around, there were always people to help, from your friends to the ever-amazing and helpful staff. Every day I would stumble back to my dorm, my mind having been expanded in a hundred different ways I had never thought possible! Even months later, I still remember so many different cool and amazing ideas I got the chance to explore, because I remember the wacky adventures I went on to find them, and the people I got the chance to share them with.
As the final night came far too early and as our YP and 17 songs faded into the night, I realized I was part of a tightly-knit of classmates, staff – friends, bonded by a love of math that I haven’t seen anywhere else. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world!
–Tanmay ‘23
“HCSSiM showed me what learning math should feel like—thrilling, explorative, and collaborative. Having previously experienced math largely through school classes and contests, I expected to spend my summer grinding away at problem sets and cramming theorems into my brain. Instead, every day, I found myself immersed in a group of lively, passionate classmates, forgetting about our prior math knowledge, sharing the excitement of creating our own worlds of mathematics. From 3rd-grade division algorithms to tackling the P vs. NP problem, we became a team of archeologists, excavating the bones of a mathematical dinosaur and reconstructing its skeleton vertebrae by vertebrae. It genuinely amazes me how many times I’ve encountered an interesting math concept—whether at school, in conversation, or even online—and recalled, “wow, I explored this at Hampshire!”Just as invaluable as my experiences at HCSSiM were the people I met there. Classmates and staff alike became close friends as we debated during problem sessions, pulled all-nighters together to go on the sunrise hike, or taught ourselves to make charcuterie boards to share with the program. Six weeks went by faster than I could count to 17, yet I will cherish the memories and friendships I made for a lifetime.
–Annli ’22
“Have you ever wanted to create your own math? Ever wondered how it would feel? Well, a quirky little summer program on a beautiful campus in Massachusetts has got you covered, as long as you’re prepared to ask questions. Lots of questions. During my first week at Hampshire, I didn’t know what hit me. I didn’t have friends who liked math much back home, and I had certainly never participated in any contests. A lot of the people around me knew cool theorems, and did more advanced math in school. At first, I felt behind. I got so confused, so many times. The thing about HCSSiM, though, is that that’s okay. It’s expected. You’re dipped into the sea of math, and you learn to stay afloat. The people I felt behind (whom I soon became friends with) were dipped into the same sea I was, and soon the knowledge we came in with began to not matter so much. It was all about trying to wrap our collective heads around mind-boggling math, and working together to build upon it. This is what makes Hampshire so special- you aren’t presented with pre-written proofs, you aren’t given theorems to memorize, or patterns to learn. Workshop starts with an intriguing problem- it is up to you to dig into it together. Through the (17-11) weeks you spend at Hampshire, you’ll explore deeper into the math you enjoy most- creating tools you need to understand it better yourself. You’ll recognize the patterns, you’ll come up with the conjectures, and you’ll write the proofs, before presenting them to your friends. You will create the theorems, and they will be yours. They will be yours to talk about, to ask and answer questions about, and to use to come up with more conjectures to prove and more theorems to talk about. The tapestry you weave with the friends you make will be yours, and it will serve as a reminder: it’s about growth, not knowth.
–Aren ‘22
“When I first came to HCSSiM, I wasn’t prepared to spend my first few days of Workshop slicing watermelons with pizzas. I wasn’t prepared for the number of questions I’d have, or the challenge of making our own conjectures instead of just memorizing theorems. Hampshire urged me to ask “whys” in mathematics, and gave me the opportunity to do so with a group of passionate kids like me (I’ll miss turning the whiteboard into an idea dump during problem sessions.) During maxis and minis, I developed new interests in areas like surreal number game theory, elliptic curves, and group theory, allowing me to explore sides of mathematics that I’d never seen before.
However, the fun didn’t stop inside the classroom. Sleeping in Kern after a long sunrise hike, LaTeX-ing for the program journal, contradancing, and chugging “lohocla” (an extremely weird yet intriguing mix of different drinks) are just a few of the many moments I’ll never forget. I made some of my closest friends at Hampshire, people that caused me to tear up on the last day of the program as we parted ways. Although these six weeks passed in the blink of an eye, I can confidently say that my time at HCSSiM has taught me a lot more about myself and changed me for the better.
–Katherine ‘22
“On my first day at HCSSiM, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle the mathematical content and that I would quickly fall behind because I didn’t have much experience with competition math, which I previously thought to be the primary determinant of mathematical success. Being at HCSSiM quickly shattered these misconceptions. On the first night, when we assigned notetakers via “rungs” and spent the next hour making conjectures about their properties, I realized that the atmosphere was supportive and collaborative, rather than competitive. To my relief, I was able to follow approximately 68% – 85% percent of the material (sometimes more) on any given day and solve interesting problems every p-set. I looked forward to every workshop, maxi class, and p-set (no matter how sleep-deprived I was), eager to make exciting discoveries and explore fascinating content with my classmates. I’ll never forget the countless whiteboard doodles from my workshop, the tissue box that we used for a Burnside’s Lemma exercise, and the ANT maxi duel. HCSSiM was equally amazing outside of the classroom. From sushi runs to Atkins every weekend, baking in the mods, spending hours at Kern, practicing piano in the practice rooms, pulling an all-nighter for the sunrise hike, and more… there are countably infinitely many possibilities for activities at HCSSiM and there are finitely many eager and amazing people to do them with. Warning: Attending the program may result in a severe obsession with yellow pigs and the number 17 (and all of its multiples).
–Olga ’22
“For those genuinely interested in the prospect of exploring different facets of math otherwise inaccessible to you in school, this will be the best six weeks of your life. The thing that makes HCSSiM so interesting is that it does not blindly give you a formula and tell you to apply it. The questions begin with “why”, for example, why does the formula you found work in these cases? Why does it not work in other cases, such as these systems you are exploring in your chaos theory maxi? Why is this a winning position in pig solitaire? (that is not a typo). However, the thing I remember the most is the group of people I was able to meet that had similar interests and wildly different ones. My mod, the HCSSiM equivalent of a dorm, had a tradition called “mod meetings” that we still honor to this day. I introduced and was introduced to new animes at watch parties in between classes. I was taught how to play pool and smash in ping pong, and still got demolished every time. HCSSiM is not a place, it’s a people. (We did it before Odin made it cool) And although it was hard to stop crying when I was leaving, I want you to be so lucky to have something that is so hard to say goodbye to.
–Maxx ‘21 & ‘22
