Meet Toshi –
DSU’s Youngest 2021 Graduate By Aubrey Gurney, Dixie State University Student This May, Dixie State University will celebrate its graduates at the 110th Commencement Ceremony held in Greater Zion Stadium. One of these graduates is Toshi Mowery, DSU’s youngest student to be honored this year. Toshi is a sixteen-year-old senior at Snow Canyon High School and will be successfully moving on to a bright future with an associate degree from DSU. “Toshi is gifted with exceptional mathematical ability,” said Jesse Hicks, assistant professor of mathematics at DSU and Toshi’s favorite professor. “For two semesters now, we have been able to have many fruitful and engaging mathematical discussions in my office. Beyond his exceptional abilities in mathematics and computer science, Toshi is affable, curious, and highly creative.” When he’s not talking about math theories with Professor Hicks, Toshi can be found programming games with his friends, reading a book—he is currently reading Gamma, a book on variables and constants in algebra—or working on his other passion, improving education. While he was in school, Toshi watched some of his friends fall behind while others were ahead of the pack. He realized that neither group had adequate resources for a good education. “I just felt like a lot of the resources in schools were geared to the average student,” Toshi said. “If you are above or below average, there aren’t as many resources.”
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To help start the process of improving education, Toshi took his knowledge of computer science to his internship at SchoolRewards.me, a program that helps incentivize kindness in the classroom. There, he helped program an app that encourages positive behavior through a point-based system. Each student is given an ID card, and when they do something good, their teacher can scan the card to add points that can then be used to get prizes. “I am excited to see how it improves students’ lives,” Toshi said.
About the Author Aubrey Gurney is currently a student at Dixie State University. She is majoring in media studies with an emphasis in public relations and aspires to utilize her public relations skills to help others after she graduates this May. Originally from Heber City, Utah, Aubrey has grown to love the St. George weather and can usually be found climbing around the red rocks with her dog, Beans.
After he graduates from DSU, Toshi will head to the University of Utah in the fall where he will major in math or computer science. He enjoys both, so he might choose to double major. Toshi ultimately plans to obtain his doctorate and one day hopes to start his own business building tech to help improve education. Like Toshi, Dixie State’s 110th graduating class is filled with remarkable students. Each one has a dream and will blaze their own trail, but all will leave DSU well equipped and ready to make a difference in the world.
For more information about Dixie State University, visit www.dixie.edu.
