Emiliana Lofat, 2024 Texas cohort
Emiliana completes a Hack Pack project from CrunchLabs
When Emiliana Lofat’s third-grade teacher pulled her aside to talk about her MAP test scores, she assumed it would be a one-time award. Maybe a certificate, a handshake, a “good job.” What she didn’t expect was to be invited into a whole new world – one where advanced math, deep friendships, and a community of like-minded peers would shape the coming years.
Now a fourth grader in Austin, TX, Emiliana is studying prealgebra and preparing to complete algebra before the school year is over. She works with her mentor, Meena Boppana, on shape- and graph-based math problems – like deriving formulas from handshake puzzles. She’s particularly proud of one involving an octagon that led to the formula n(n-1)/2. “I can explain it,” she says with a smile.
Her love of math started early. By first grade, she was already calculating square roots. Much of her early learning came from watching her older brother and playing games with her dad – Sudoku puzzles, dice challenges, and elaborate shop setups using play money. “If something cost $12, my dad would give me $100 and say, ‘You figure out the change,’” she remembers.
Through National Math Stars, Emiliana has found a community that understands her – not just as a gifted student, but as a whole person. She was apprehensive walking into her first Welcome Weekend event. “What if they talk about some weird formula and I don’t know it?” she remembers thinking. But those nerves faded fast. “Everyone was so nice,” she recalled. She met new friends like Zhoie, Zoe, Eva, Tricia, and Hana. “And the food was really good, too,” she adds.
That weekend sparked a deeper connection: Emiliana and Zhoie now meet weekly for peer mentoring, chats and getting together outside of the program as well. “We live thirty minutes apart,” says Emiliana’s dad, Marco. “So we try to get them together outside of the scheduled events. They’ve really become friends.”
Marco credits the program with opening doors he didn’t even know existed. “They’ve helped create a roadmap for her development – things I wouldn’t have known about otherwise,” he shares. “She’s signed up for three summer camps this year. We might’ve done one without National Math Stars, but now she can access so much more.”
The support isn’t just financial – though the program has covered everything from a 3D printer to STEM kits. “They’re flexible,” Marco explains. “They really listen. And they clearly want the best for these kids.”
They’re also able to take advantage of shared knowledge, experienced advising, and, of course, the community. “Having access to a community of loving parents of gifted children, with similar experiences and shared challenges, has helped the process of harnessing the best educational opportunities for my daughter, while alleviating some of the stress that comes with it,” says Marco.
Emiliana plays an arcade game during an NMS celebration at Main Event
For Emiliana, the experience has been both empowering and exciting. “I thought this was just going to be an award, but it turned into a community – and now I get to do all this fun stuff that’s not even always math,” she explains, recalling get-togethers at Main Event for video games and going for hamburgers and ice-cream, in addition to field trips to UT Austin for the Texas Advanced Computing Center and STEM Girl Day.
With her new NMS friends and opportunities, Emiliana has been able to push her creativity, curiosity, and ever-expanding skills to their maximum potential. She’s excelling everywhere – from UT Austin to the local arcade. And that’s better than any award.
