Locke Roschyk, just 16, April 20 became the third person in his Granger family awarded Southwestern Michigan College Math/Science Department’s Appreciation Award.
His brother, Creed, won in 2021, his sister, Anaya, in 2019.
The Appreciation Award was established in 2012 to honor a high school student or returning student planning to continue at SMC who demonstrates a strong work ethic, shows academic promise, plans to pursue a STEM-related career and made a significant department contribution.
Locke plans to study aerospace engineering at either the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or the University of Colorado Boulder.
Department Chair Professor Ria Thomas never had Locke as a student, but said, “I can’t tell you how many times your name comes up for tutoring as so helpful, patient and kind. My math students say they learn a lot from you.”
Professor of Mathematics Mark Pelfrey, who directs the Honors Program, added to Thomas, “Especially my non-traditional students, who might be concerned about working with a tutor period, and certainly with someone younger than them. You’ve got this way of making them comfortable, like they belong, and there’s no issue with them getting the help they need.”
“This year,” Pelfrey continued, “Locke was instrumental in helping the Honors Program get back on its feet after COVID as my student assistant.”
“He’s an excellent student in terms of work ethic and participation,” Professor of Physics Andrew Dohm concurred. “He came to see me about summer STEM camp, so I hired him as we brought back in-person camp. His can-do attitude and pleasant personality are contagious. For three days with 180 students going into fourth, fifth and sixth grades, it was always, ‘Yeah, whatever you need’ to help camp run smoothly. He’ll be my No. 1 counselor this year. We’ll be sad to see you go, but we’re excited to see you go on and do great things, like SpaceX.”
“I’ve known I wanted something STEM since I was 11 or 12,” Roschyk said. “I actually looked at sports medicine for a while and automotive engineering. I toured (Colorado) over spring break. It leads very well into NASA and astronauts.”
Creed is studying at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He wants to obtain a biomedical engineering degree, then attend medical school to become an orthopedic surgeon. Creed spent his senior year of high school studying in Germany through the merit-based Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange program.
Anaya was SMC’s student speaker in 2020 for the college’s only virtual commencement due to COVID-19.
She went to Ohio’s Oberlin College and Conservatory wanting to become a pediatric neurologist, which requires a medical degree, and to pursue neurological research, which takes a doctorate. She hopes to attend medical school at Northwestern University.
The home-schooled siblings are the children of Jeremy and Chana Roschyk, who attended the ceremony in the William P.D. O’Leary Building.
Besides faculty members, they were joined by Locke’s tutoring “family” from the Carole A. Tate Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) in Fred L. Mathews Library, including Emily St. Germain, Jana Tahtinen and Courtney Hemenway.
CUTLINE: Locke Roschyk with professors Mark Pelfrey, Dr. Doug Schauer and Andrew Dohm.
