If you can’t find him in the Snow Math and Science Center, you might have some luck looking at the nearest skate park.
Since eighth grade, Jameson Hardy, a math instructor from Rigby, Idaho, has been known as a “skater kid.”
Hardy said he was so into skateboarding that he would try to relate every project he was given in high school back to it.
Hardy said he wishes he had more time to get back into skateboarding, but since a recent back surgery and wearing “nicer shoes” and slacks, he has cut back on skateboarding and instead helps students at Dixie State University get excited for math.
Hardy, along with his wife and two kids, recently moved to St. George from Logan for Hardy to work as a math professor at DSU. The Hardys came across DSU when a friend, who was a former resident of St. George, mentioned DSU possibly hiring. Hardy said the move to St. George was a little nerve wracking with moving to the desert heat and away from family.
”It was so hot when we came down here, we were nervous we would never be comfortable ever again,” Hardy said. “We are adjusting well, and [the weather is] cooling down.”
Hardy started his schooling in mechanical engineering at Utah State University but noticed later he enjoyed the math more than the engineering part and so changed his degree to mathematics. Hardy said he has a few points of success that he would like to see here at DSU, the main one being to pump enthusiasm into the students.
“The biggest thing I want to see is excitement,” Hardy said. “Math is typically a subject that people hate, struggle with or do because they have to… Math can be fun and useful in a lot aspects.”
Hardy said sometimes his excitement gets a little loud and out of control. Since he has started at DSU, he has made himself known as “the loud teacher.” Hardy taught high school in Logan, and even there, he said other teachers would ask him to be quiet during his teaching.
Hardy teaches math 1000 this semester and next semester will teach math 1000, business calculus and math 1050.
Hardy said his experience at a smaller university is different but has been really nice for him. With attending a smaller university, Hardy said he feels closer to the students and more connected with the area. He said he imagines by the time this year is over, he won’t be able to walk out of this front door without knowing someone he taught math to.
Hardy hopes to stay in St. George for a while and achieve some sort of a doctorate while he is teaching at DSU.
Along with skateboarding, Hardy loves music, Rubik’s cubes, board games and movies.
“You can’t change me,” said Hardy, who enjoys who he is, his excitement and his loudness.
