Stand and Deliver EC

Jaime Escalante is looking down at my recent 87% on my 3rd elementary algebra test, and laughing. He knows I can do better, and so do I. I have now seen “Stand and Deliver” for about the seventh time in my life, and I can appreciate the ever evolving, multi-faceted qualities of this movie, and this man. I remember my original draw to seeing it was because it had total mega-hottie, Lou Diamond Phillips (I was fourteen when the movie premiered in 1988). I left the movie being truly captivated at how much depth and story the movie had. Oh my, and seeing Lou Diamond Phillips strip down to his underwear to frolic in the ocean, was just gravy!
Now that I've added a few more years of life experience, and have completely grown out of my "Young Guns" phase, I like another side of the movie. Jaime Escalante truly excelled with math because he did not teach it as math. I feel he taught it as a philosophy, or a tool for life. Perhaps even the word “math” should be thought of completely different, and used more like a verb would be.
Jaime used math to "math" out of his native La Paz, Bolivia, and move to the United States. He arrived in the U.S. without speaking English, and no teaching credentials. He used math to "math" out an electronics degree to work for Burroughs Corporation. He then used math to "math" out a mathematics degree, and was able to teach at Garfield High School. It was here his use of math became infectious, as it caught on and influenced many young minds. His class size became boundless as the years went on, and the students he influenced to take Advanced Placement Tests, multiplied in droves every year. Every time he “mathed” his life, it made life better for him, and for many others.
I'm not sure if there were any documented patron saints of mathematics, (St. Pi-us, perhaps?), but I will certainly seek prayer and guidance on my fourth test with St. Jaime… with a sign of the cross from one hand, and co-sine from the other.