Above: Kevin Ordet is competing in the National Scholastic Chess Tournament
When people think of a mathematical genius they tend to picture a person with wild hair who sits all day making calculations and blocks out the world.
In Kevin Ordet’s case, this couldn’t be any more different. Though he will be taking calculus 3 and admits his love math, he also loves sports like basketball, football and chess.
Ordet’s talent with numbers was noticed when he was in preschool. He loved to spend time on the board solving anything from addition to simple multiplication. When his parents noticed this ability they began to nourish it through workbooks and worksheets that Ordet enjoyed completing.
When he entered elementary school at Aventura Charter, Ordet’s talents began to be showcased across the school, with appearances on the morning announcements, where he would multiply in front of the whole school at five years old.
“During a regular day at school instead of being in math with the rest of my grade, I would be with kids two years older,”said Ordet.
When Ordet moved into the middle school and high school math he began to tutor the older kids in subjects like Algebra and Geometry. When he reached seventh grade Aventura Charter no longer had any courses available for him so he started virtual school.
Ordet flourished his way through pre-calculus and moved on to taking AP calculus when he reached high school. Now he is moving into calculus three, which he will be forced to take online since it isn’t offered at Krop. If he follows the track he is on Ordet has the possibility to graduate high school with a bachelor degree in mathematics.
But math isn’t the only thing that is on Ordet’s schedule. Ordet participates in multiple sports leagues. Ordet is a well known chess player throughout the nation having been ranked among the top ten in Florida multiple times. He also competes at the yearly National Scholastic Chess Tournament and is scheduled to participate at the Maccabi Games in Israel representing team USA.
“My participation in chess has taught me to concentrate for long periods of time which helps me during testing and when sitting through extended classes.”
In addition to his love for math and chess, he also has a deep passion for athletics.
Ordet participates in basketball and football leagues and has proven to be good. When Ordet played at the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center he was found among the top ten receivers in the league despite his 5’5 structure. He also led his team to three championships with receiving touchdowns in each of the finals.
But though Ordet is talented in both math and sports just like most people he is challenged by something, english and history.
“The class that I spend the most time studying for is european history because of the vast content and its lack in numbers.”
Just every other person, Ordet has his passions and his discomforts. Though he has talents unique to him and very few other, Ordet uses them as a tool instead of a distraction. His capabilities in chess and astonishing progress in school have made him seem super “human”.