Young Sierra Madre Math Scholar Finds Patterns in Numbers and Stories

At 13, Julian Wilkes has already discovered something that many adults spend years trying to figure out: The things we love most often have more in common than we think.

For Julian, an eighth grader at Sierra Madre Middle School who also attends the Math Academy at Pasadena High School, those things include mathematics, history, English, music and theater.

He loves the precision of numbers, but he also loves a good story.

What appeals to him about mathematics, he explained, is that it is built around patterns. Concepts learned in one area can be applied to increasingly sophisticated problems in another. Each discovery becomes a foundation for the next.

History and English offer something different, but equally satisfying: the opportunity to explore people, ideas and the stories that connect them.

That combination of intellectual curiosity and academic ambition has earned Julian a Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship, a prestigious national award administered by the Pasadena-based Institute for Educational Advancement.

The scholarship recognizes exceptionally gifted students and provides funding for four years of high school education at a school selected to meet their academic needs.

For Julian, earning the scholarship required more than demonstrating his ability to solve difficult problems.

The application and evaluation process demanded considerable time and attention, something he described recently as perhaps its greatest challenge.

And not every question involved academics.

Some were philosophical, inviting applicants to explain their values, personalities and perspectives on the world around them. In a recent Zoom chat with Pasadena Now, Julian welcomed the opportunity to show the selection committee who he was beyond his grades and mathematical abilities.

Meanwhile, his academic schedule is already approaching territory generally reserved for older students.

At Pasadena High School’s Math Academy, where he studies with instructor Dylan Rupel, Julian has explored advanced mathematical theory and is preparing to take the AP Calculus examination next year.

But mathematics is hardly his only interest.

Julian loves theater and singing, although the demands of his academic pursuits have left little time for either. He has also stepped away from baseball and swimming, two activities he once enjoyed, to concentrate on his studies.

Though he set aside a quickly fading interest in the violin, music remains part of his world.

When scholarship evaluators asked him to name a favorite musical composition, his answer was the theme from the animated film “How to Train Your Dragon,” a sweeping orchestral piece by composer John Powell.

And despite his demanding schedule, Julian finds time to help others learn.

He volunteers at Temple Sinai in Glendale, where he helps teach mathematics, sharing some of the knowledge and enthusiasm that have carried him so far.

The Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship is designed to help young scholars pursue challenging educational opportunities while encouraging their broader personal development.

For Julian, that means continuing to explore a world in which mathematics, literature, history and music are not competing interests, but different ways of understanding the same remarkable things.

And with high school still ahead of him, there are plenty of patterns left to discover and stories left to tell.