ESP Biography

PAOLO ADAJAR, MIT Sophomore who loves teaching :D

Major: 14

College/Employer: MIT

Year of Graduation: G

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Hi there! I'm Paolo, a MIT graduate (and former undergrad) who does too many things for my own good--I love economics, math, physics, the number τ, Rubik's cube solving, the color orange, Billy Joel (and lots of 70s/80s music), musicals, whiteboard markers, teaching (especially math and science education), science bowl, poker, rock climbing, board games, puzzles, crosswords, and much, much more!

Please feel free to come up and talk to me literally *whenever* about any of the above because I would love to chat about it :D

I'm also a part of ESP, the organization that runs Splash, Spark, and HSSP! I was a director for Summer HSSP 2018 and Chair in 2019 (as well as many other positions). Feel free to ask anything about our programs!

Past Classes

(Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

X15957: Let's Talk About the NBA in Spark 2024 (Mar. 16 - 17, 2024)

Come discuss storylines from this year's NBA season, predictions, statistics, etc. You'll get to shape the discussion based on what topics interest you most.

X15871: Let's talk NFL & Fantasy Football! in Splash 2023 (Nov. 18 - 19, 2023)

Who are the real Super Bowl contenders this year? What do you need to do to win your fantasy football championship? This and everything NFL-related: let's talk about anything y'all want to discuss! 🏈

W15444: let's sing! in Splash 2022 (Nov. 19 - 20, 2022)

come sing some music a cappella together! no music experience required :)

W15445: marblelympics in Splash 2022 (Nov. 19 - 20, 2022)

do you love sports? random numbers? cheering? the marblelympics? well now is your chance to compete in person :)

X14502: n classes in 5n minutes in Spark 2021 (Mar. 13 - 27, 2021)

Do you ever feel like there aren't enough time blocks at Spark to take classes? Wish you could learn more about *everything*? We'll be teaching you about 10 different topics, with 5 minutes for each! We don't know exactly what we'll teach yet (maybe we'll take suggestions from you all?) Perhaps we'll talk about Scrabble, making pop music, internet policy, mental math, firespinning, relativity, haircutting, and much, much more :D

W14519: Science Bowl in Spark 2021 (Mar. 13 - 27, 2021)

Come play high school Science Bowl and try to win bragging rights and learn some awesome things about science! Know lots of science trivia, love hitting buzzers, or just want to try to answer questions ridiculously fast? This is the walk-in for you! You do not need to have familiarity/experience with this game to participate!

W14525: Let's Play! in Spark 2021 (Mar. 13 - 27, 2021)

A walk-in for chilling and talking. Share stories about cool classes you're taking at Spark, ask an MIT student anything you want, and more!

W14373: Science Bowl in Splash 2020 (Nov. 14 - 15, 2020)

X14392: n classes in 5n minutes in Splash 2020 (Nov. 14 - 15, 2020)

Do you ever feel like there aren't enough time blocks at Splash to take classes? Wish you could learn more about *everything*? We'll be teaching you about 10 different topics, with 5 minutes for each! We don't know exactly what we'll teach yet (maybe we'll take suggestions from you all?) Perhaps we'll talk about Scrabble, meme-y music, gymnastics, mental math, firespinning, and much, much more :D

M13943: Quick Mafs in Spark 2020 (Mar. 14 - 15, 2020)

Imagine wowing your friends with how quickly you can square 175 in your head (30625), or figure out what day of the week January 12, 1999 (Paolo's birthday!) was (Tuesday). This class is focused on showing you all sorts of really cool math tricks!

X13252: Hacking your memory in Splash 2019 (Nov. 23 - 24, 2019)

You've been in classes before that force you to memorize something. The periodic table. The names of rocks. Vocab words. Spelling lists. Hard? Maybe. There's a world of memory tips and tricks that exists. People that memorize 10 decks of cards in an hour. 1 deck in under 2 minutes. 1000 random numbers in an hour. How? Learn some of the secrets of hacking your memory with different techniques. As a promise to you guys that can all be done, I'll start off this class by reciitng the order of a shuffled deck of cards. Fingers crossed that I don't make a mistake :P

W13253: Science Bowl in Splash 2019 (Nov. 23 - 24, 2019)

Come play high school Science Bowl and try to win for bragging rights and learn some awesome things about science! Know lots of science trivia, love hitting buzzers, or just want to try to answer questions ridiculously fast? This is the walk-in for you! You do not need to have familiarity/experience with this game to participate!

H13543: We Are What We Speak: How We Make Language and Language Makes Us in Splash 2019 (Nov. 23 - 24, 2019)

Interested at all about words, language, and how we communicate? In this class, we'll talk about ideas like the size of vocabularies, the history of words and languages themselves, and the interactions between language and culture. We'll have some interactive games and activities to learn more about how we understand and use language.

Z13578: Who Gets What and Why in Splash 2019 (Nov. 23 - 24, 2019)

Ever wondered what connects organ donations, dating, and you getting into this Splash class? In this class we'll talk about how markets work, why they fail, and how we can design better ones. Markets are more than just moving money around!

M12857: Quick Mafs in Spark 2019 (Mar. 16 - 17, 2019)

W13037: Science Bowl in Spark 2019 (Mar. 16 - 17, 2019)

Know lots of science trivia, love hitting buzzers, or just want to try to answer questions ridiculously fast? This is the walk-in for you! Come play some middle school science bowl with us! No prior experience with science bowl needed to participate!

M12547: Quick Mafs in Splash 2018 (Nov. 17 - 18, 2018)

We may not be Big Shaq (though Shaq was a favorite basketball player for a long while), we'll be teaching you about how to do mental math quickly! Imagine wowing your friends with how quickly you can square 175 in your head (30625), or figure out what day of the week January 12, 1999 (my birthday!) was (Tuesday). This class is focused on showing you all sorts of really cool math tricks!

W12676: Science Bowl in Splash 2018 (Nov. 17 - 18, 2018)

H12715: Redesigning Education! in Splash 2018 (Nov. 17 - 18, 2018)

Have you ever found yourself bored in school? Do you feel like you're wasting your time learning irrelevant information? Schools, as institutions, have kept the same structure for a long time, but society continues to evolve. Come discuss how we might redesign education for the future!

X12737: Tidbits on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Splash 2018 (Nov. 17 - 18, 2018)

This will be an interactive course that compiles several strategies, lessons, and interactive modules that I have learnt over the years from other entrepreneurs/researchers on creativity and innovation.These include Peter Diamandis, Richard Branson and Tina Seelig. In particular, they will be those thought processes, strategies and applications that are intuitive once taught, but surprising when first discovered. The hope is that students will learn tangible and highly versatile skills and experience applications of these, for their own entrepreneurial activities.

W12752: Appreciation for any juice that is not Ruby Red in Splash 2018 (Nov. 17 - 18, 2018)

At ESP, we love to drink juice. Come learn to appreciate every jucie except the worst juice, Ruby Red! Juices included will be lemonade, all kinds of orange juice, and things that are juices if we stretch the definition of juice a little bit.

W12758: Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream(LN2) in Splash 2018 (Nov. 17 - 18, 2018)

Want to watch some cool chemistry and eat some cool liquid? Come join us for a delicious treat!!! Lactose-free options are available

M12308: Advanced Math for Middle School Students! in HSSP Summer 2018 (Jun. 30, 2018)

Want to learn more math besides what your teachers cover in school? This class might be perfect for you! Each week, we'll cover a fun math topic, including prime numbers, permutations/combinations, similar/congruent figures, modular arithmetic, sequences/patterns, and mental math. During each class, we will introduce a mathematical topic and have time for you to solve problems using what you've learned!

X12154: Learning about Teaching in Spark 2018 (Mar. 17 - 18, 2018)

Some teachers are amazing--exciting, engaging, motivating, inspiring, funny, and so much more. They make you want to stay in the classroom for longer, make school enjoyable, and teach you some awesome stuff in the process. On the flipside, there's teachers where class seems to go on ten times longer than it's supposed to, where it seems like anywhere else would be better than the desk you're sitting at. You've learned so much as a student at Spark--now, let's talk about what it's like on the other side of the classroom! We'll focus on what makes great teachers great, and how if (or when!) you teach something, you too can be an awesome teacher.

X12185: Learning to Watch Sports in Spark 2018 (Mar. 17 - 18, 2018)

Learn the rules of various sports like football, soccer, tennis, and basketball so you can understand what's going on when you watch sports.

W11530: Science Bowl in Splash 2017 (Nov. 18 - 19, 2017)