The award comes despite Rummage being limited to a 20-hour work week due to being a full-time student.

Rummage has been with REACH as a math tutor since August 2016. He has achieved the status of Master Tutor, which is a level III certification through the College Reading and Learning Association. In order to teach GEN 103/104, Rummage accepted a UTA position with REACH – the first of its kind. Typically, only GSAs and program coordinators teach the course.

The move helped him on both a personal and a professional level.

“Working as a math tutor and instructor is my way of giving back. In the past, I wasn’t so strong in mathematics. As a non-traditional student at JCTC, I had instructors who invested in me, and math became alive to me,” Rummage said.

Within two semesters at JCTC, he began working as a tutor in the math lab. He then joined REACH upon transferring to UofL and worked his way through level I and II certification while working in the GEN 103/104 program. That’s when he decided to apply to be a Master Tutor.

“During this process, I became interested in a potential future as a REACH GSA. I began to glean as much knowledge as I could regarding this role in advance and had some amazing mentors during the process,” he said.

Rummage’s favorite part of the job is working with his students, as well as the REACH team.

“It’s so rewarding to see a tutee grasp a concept and totally take ownership of the math problem that mere minutes ago was giving them a headache,” he said. “I’m constantly in awe of our true team atmosphere here at the University. Our REACH team always pulls together in a united front to help students succeed, and that’s why we’re here.”

The Peer Tutor of the Year Award is awarded to one student tutor per year by the Association for the Tutoring Profession. Rummage was nominated by the REACH leadership staff.

“Being nominated was a tremendous honor in itself. I was extremely surprised when I found out that I was chosen from a pool of nominees nationwide,” he said.

Rummage plans to graduate in December 2018 and then intends to apply for the 13-month MBA program offered by the UofL College of Business. He also plans to apply to a GSA role with REACH so he can continue to teach GEN 103/104 while pursuing a post-graduate degree.  

From there, his goal is to enter the public accounting fields and eventually obtain CPA certification.

That early training helped the youngster cultivate an aptitude for problem solving and physics – a foundation that recently helped him win a prestigious , one of just 252 such awards given this year in the U.S.

The scholarship goes to undergraduate students in the fields of mathematics, science or engineering and provides up to $7,500 for tuition, fees, books, room and board.

Smart believes that his father’s influence helped lay the groundwork for his interest in science and ability to vie for the prominent scholarship.

“While working, he would discuss the functions of objects: why we use screws instead of nails; why plywood is so heavy compared to balsa wood; why we need to use a wrench, etc. He would spend the time to explain to me the how and why,” said Smart. “These questions developed me as a scientist and I still ask these questions as a physicist investigating the structure of matter.”

A physics and mathematics major, Smart will use his Goldwater scholarship to work toward his ultimate goal of earning a doctoral degree in theoretical particle physics.

“This intertwining of mathematics and physics in an effort to define the smallest details of the universe is the discovery of profound beauty and insightful explanation,” he explained.

Smart grew up in Woodford County, Kentucky, and is a 2013 graduate of Woodford County High School. His parents are Eric and Laurie Smart of Versailles.

He came to UofL as a Brown Fellow, perhaps the most prestigious scholarship program offered at the university. He is also a member of the University Honors Program and a Grawemeyer Research Scholar.

He already has contributed to several UofL projects and has presented findings at meetings including the Atlantic Coast Conference “Meeting of the Minds” research conference. He also received Research Experience for Undergraduates grants from the National Science Foundation to work with Cornell University’s accelerator physics program last summer and to work on plasma physics at University of California-Los Angeles this summer.

Smart praised the mentoring relationship between faculty and undergraduate students, who can learn early in their university careers the precise ways to do meaningful scientific research and work in groups.

“There’s a lot of opportunity there,” he said. “It’s good to start early. The relationships with faculty are what propel me forward.”

Physics Professor David Brown, who facilitated one of Smart’s research groups in 2014-15, said Smart has a “voracious appetite” for knowledge and understanding.

“He shows an incredible mind for grasping new concepts and synthesizing information into new ideas,” Brown said. “It’s obvious he has an unstoppable curiosity about the way the universe works at its most fundamental level and that he thinks deeply about these issues and actively pursues answers.”