S T U DEN T PRO FIL E
Justin Puno J
ustin Puno does it all, or as much as he can. In school he is a terrific student. He’s an athlete. He volunteers. On his own time is where Puno hits another gear. Not just with academics, but as a person who sees a world bigger than his school and his town. “As an adult, I think it would be incredibly challenging to ‘do’ all that Justin does,” says Linda Mihm, who sees Justin every day in her role as the Middle School Coordinator. “But he makes it look almost effortless. He clearly cares a great deal about his studies and devotes a great deal of time to his work.” Puno, who is one of the top math students in the state of Indiana, participates in the Sycamore MATHCOUNTS program, the competitive program led by Sycamore math teacher Trent Tormoehlen. Puno is also on the Sycamore Debate team, the Science Bowl team, competes in basketball, track and field, and is the goalie on the soccer team. Math, however, is his academic passion. “The thing that sets Justin apart from other students is his drive,” says Tormoehlen. “Understanding his drive
is key to understanding Justin. Justin is very task oriented, and goal oriented, and Justin truly loves solving math problems.” “My first experience of discovering my love for math was 1st Grade with Mrs. Hendry,” Puno says. “We were doing tile cards, which were sheets of laminated paper with spaces and we had to put the number in the right place in the equations with two and three digit multiplications. I saw that I kept getting progressively better.” [ CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE ]
SYCAMORE SCHOOL MAGAZINE | WINTER 2021
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