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Did you know that Veritas Scholars Academy currently offers 13 different math subjects and that many of these are available in three different curricula options? VSA senior Abby Bellucci has taken every math course in our core curriculum AND all of the elective math courses, too!

Abby and her mother, Jen, join us today to chat about their experience with VSA math, how the Veritas Diploma Program helped Abby get over $500,000 in scholarships, and more!

Episode Transcription

Note: This transcription may vary from the words used in the original episode.

Marlin Detweiler:
Hello again and welcome to another episode of Veritas Vox, the voice of classical Christian education. Today we have with us the Bellucci sisters. I mean mother and daughter. Jen Bellucci and Abby. Welcome, guys.

Jen Bellucci:
Thanks, Marlin.

Marlin Detweiler:
Jen, before you introduce Abby to the world, tell us a little bit about yourself, your family, and your educational background, your role at Veritas, and that sort of thing.

Jen Bellucci:
Yeah. So I'm married to a veteran from the U.S. Air Force who retired a few years ago. We have five children. We live down here in San Antonio, Texas. I have a master's degree, and I'm working for Veritas as a family consultant, so I kind of help assist with building curriculum plans for other families.

Marlin Detweiler:
Very good. And one of the reasons I think you got connected to Veritas originally was for your children and because you were moving around and how much it was a stabilizing factor for them.

Jen Bellucci:
Absolutely. So I was looking for an Algebra 1 class. My husband was getting ready to go and deploy, and he was going to leave me with five children at home. And he was like, you'll be fine. And I said, I will be fine with the five kids, but I can't teach algebra. And that's where Veritas came in. So we selected one class, Algebra 1. We loved it so much that we came back the next year and then we joined the full-time program.

Marlin Detweiler:
Yeah. That's wonderful. And you now work as a family consultant. And of course, that works with mostly new families and returning families and helping and getting them placed. And I know that's been a wonderful service for many people.

Jen Bellucci:
Absolutely. I couldn't have done it initially without the advising help that I had. So I'm glad that I can give back to others.

Marlin Detweiler:
Yeah. That's great. Abby, how long have you been taking classes? Are you the oldest?

Abby Bellucci:
Yes, I'm the oldest.

Marlin Detweiler:
And you're graduating this year?

Abby Bellucci:
Yes.

Marlin Detweiler:
Great. You have been with Veritas for how long?

Abby Bellucci:
For seven years.

Marlin Detweiler:
Seven years? Does that mean you took Algebra for seventh grade?

Abby Bellucci:
Yes, I took Algebra 1 in sixth grade.

Marlin Detweiler:
Good for you. For the record, I think that is possible by more people, but you have to come up in a system that really keeps math going to do that. I have to ask you, being younger than most American children taking algebra, were there any special challenges for you? How did you find it as a sixth grader?

Abby Bellucci:
I don't think it was really challenging. I think I grew up on that track already, and so I just found math interesting and wanted to do it, which made it easy.

Marlin Detweiler:
Yeah. Students that love math hate the repetition that some other classes do. When you eliminate some of that, it helps you go at a pace that you're capable of. Was that your experience?

Abby Bellucci:
Yeah, it was.

Marlin Detweiler:
Now tell us. I know that led to some very interesting accomplishments, one of which has to do with our math classes. Tell us about that.

Abby Bellucci:
I've completed all of the upper-level math classes at Veritas.

Marlin Detweiler:
So when you say that, do you mean the electives as well as the core?

Abby Bellucci:
Yes.

Marlin Detweiler:
So Calculus II and statistics and business math, all of them?

Abby Bellucci:
And problem solving, yes.

Marlin Detweiler:
Wow. Well, what do you like best?

Abby Bellucci:
I would say the problem-solving class.

Marlin Detweiler:
And why is that?

Abby Bellucci:
I think it combined a lot of math, but also creativity, which is something else I really enjoy.

Marlin Detweiler:
Okay, so you are graduating this year. My understanding is that you have a 4.9 GPA on, of course, the 4/5 scale. Very impressive. Abby, you have taken an enormous amount of classes with Veritas. Do you happen to know how many different teachers you've had?

Abby Bellucci:
Divided between me and my siblings? 43.

Marlin Detweiler:
Oh, my word. That's unbelievable. Do you have other classes outside the math that you really enjoyed?

Abby Bellucci:
Yeah, I really enjoyed the composition classes, writing, and creating PowerPoints and stuff, as well as the Spanish that I did. I got to do those with my sister, so that was fun.

Marlin Detweiler:
Oh, wow. Were there other classes that you got to do with siblings?

Abby Bellucci:
Spanish was the only one that I did.

Marlin Detweiler:
What's the range in age of your family? You're the oldest. 17 or 18, I assume.

Abby Bellucci:
I'm 18. My sister is ten.

Marlin Detweiler:
Okay. So wouldn't create much opportunity to take class together. But that's kind of fun to be able to do that. Now, what are your plans for next year?

Abby Bellucci:
I'm going to be attending the University of Incarnate Word, where I will be diving as a Division One diver, and I'm going to study nuclear medicine.

Marlin Detweiler:
Oh, wow. And does that prepare you then for the medical profession as a doctor?

Abby Bellucci:
Yeah. So I'll be in the D.O. program. The direct admit will kind of prepare me for med school as well. Yes.

Marlin Detweiler:
Very good. Did you say D.O. or DEA program?

Abby Bellucci:
It's a direct academic program.

Marlin Detweiler:
Okay. Yeah, because I thought maybe you were talking about becoming a D.O. as opposed to an M.D. Is that what you're—

Abby Bellucci:
UIW med school is D.O.

Marlin Detweiler:
As D.O. Okay, so it was both. There was something else that you told me about that's fascinating. I'd love for you to tell our audience. Tell us about the scholarship money that you have been offered.

Abby Bellucci:
Yeah. So I've applied to four different colleges, and I received $519,000.

Marlin Detweiler:
Wow. Obviously, that's split over four schools, but even so, that is an incredible amount from one school, I'm sure, to take care of the cost of college for all four years, I assume.

Abby Bellucci:
Yes.

Marlin Detweiler:
Wow. Mom, how's that make you feel?

Jen Bellucci:
It makes me feel really happy that we were able to use the transcript from Veritas to apply. It looks like it is a private Christian school, and so that helped greatly. She did get two full tuition offers, one from the University of Incarnate Word and one from another school, and then a Presidential Scholarship to the other two schools.

Marlin Detweiler:
Wow, Presidential Scholarships are typically the biggest scholarships offered. Is that the case here too?

Jen Bellucci:
Yes.

Marlin Detweiler:
We're always encouraged to hear that because when we can not only provide what we think is the best education and set students up for college in the best possible way in terms of entrance and in terms of scholarship, that seems to me to be a win-win. I love hearing stories like this.

Jen Bellucci:
Yeah, we're pretty happy with the education that Veritas gave us and led us down this path. She's going in with, I think, 30 dual credits as well from Veritas.

Marlin Detweiler:
Is that right? Were those classes selected on a dual credit basis, or did they work pretty well with what you wanted anyway?

Abby Bellucci:
They worked well with what I wanted to do. There were a few classes where they weren't really something I was interested in at the beginning, but I found interesting after.

Marlin Detweiler:
Okay. How will that work for you then? Do you essentially step in from an hours standpoint as if you're a sophomore? And are there classes still that are freshman classes versus sophomore classes? Describe to the people who may not have experienced that what you're experiencing in terms of how it puts you into college and your placement there.

Abby Bellucci:
So I'll enter with the credits, and I'll probably just use them to lighten my load throughout the four years. So I'll have a lighter load.

Marlin Detweiler:
Okay. Very good. So you do still plan to take four years to get through college. Do you know anything about how others at Veritas do that?

Abby Bellucci:
No.

Marlin Detweiler:
No. Okay. Understood. That is really cool. You talked about the problem-solving class being your favorite. How do you think calculus will benefit you in med school? Any thoughts about that?

Abby Bellucci:
Well, there's a lot of math involved in medicine and stuff, so I think it'll be very beneficial.

Marlin Detweiler:
Yeah. This question is really for both of you. I've seen it recently, but a lot of times I'll see on social media a meme or something that says, "Another day and I didn't use algebra." What would you say to them as you think about a math education? You just got done talking about how important you think it will be to your medical interests.

I think there's a lot to be said for that. I wonder if either of you can talk about that a little bit, because I think math is far more directly applicable than most people think about.

Jen Bellucci:
Can I answer that one? Yeah. Okay. So we have a neighbor who stopped by our house once and said that his granddaughter was struggling with algebra, and he didn't know why we were teaching it because he's never used algebra in his entire life. He was trying to relate to my husband, who basically said, "I use algebra every day."

So my husband is an operational research analyst, and he works down here locally. Math is something that we see in data sheets everywhere. Whether you're in marketing, sales, business, or medicine, it's definitely needed.

Marlin Detweiler:
Yeah. I think it's even more practical than that. When I think of ordering a sequence of things I need to do, there's an algebraic consideration for that. This is on the way, this will take this much time. All those things are really just intuitively a part of what we do. So much so that I don't think we really realize the reasoning that's going into the whole process.

Where do you see your brothers and sisters in their education at Veritas? By the way, I know there are five of you. I assume they're brothers and sisters. You're not all girls, are you?

Abby Bellucci:
No.

Jen Bellucci:
Okay, so start with Amelia and then go down. Or start with Ashlyn. Ashlyn is in what grade? She's ten. She's probably in fifth or sixth grade. She's in fourth. She just turned ten.

Marlin Detweiler:
Oh, okay. Gotcha.

Jen Bellucci:
I'll let you speak.

Abby Bellucci:
So Ashley is in fourth grade, and then Autumn is in sixth grade. Archer's in 10th. No, in eighth grade. Amelia is in 10th grade.

Marlin Detweiler:
Okay. From the things that they're studying, the things that you've studied. What kinds of things do you find most enjoyable at dinnertime to talk about? Does education and the classes come to dinner?

Abby Bellucci:
Yes, all the time.

Marlin Detweiler:
What are some of your favorite conversations that have happened?

Jen Bellucci:
I think we have a lot of math homework conversations because that seems to be the one class that everybody kind of asks Abby questions about.

Marlin Detweiler:
Okay.

Jen Bellucci:
Different word problems. There was one just the other day, but I don't remember what it was.

Marlin Detweiler:
Now, in your problem solving class, I understand you had a project of significance that you really enjoyed. Can you tell us about that?

Abby Bellucci:
Yeah. So for our second semester project, we got to pick between a travel itinerary and a street art project. So I got to do the street art project and make it completely from scratch.

Marlin Detweiler:
Very cool. Tell me, maybe this is, to you, mom. Tell me about, an Omnibus book or a controversial discussion that you might have had around dinner table related to one of the great books that your children have read.

Jen Bellucci:
Yeah. So we've read so many of the books from Omnibus and had great conversations around the dinner table. I'm sure, like many families, we've loved the Explorer's books and those have always been very clean. Those are on our bookshelf. But one of the more interesting stories was when we were trying to decide if we were going to rent our house out or sell it, and we were having realtors come through.

The Mein Kamph book is on our shelf. And my husband was like, I don't think we should have mine on the shelf, you know, because of who wrote it. And like, he was like, I don't want people to think that we're associated with that. And I was like, it's important to still put it out there and know that that's part of history, and that's something that we don't want to repeat.

Marlin Detweiler:
Yeah you run into an interesting dilemma there because when we see some bookshelf, we tend to think those are the books that they've put up there because they've read them and enjoyed them. But sometimes we read things for reasons of avoiding them and understanding them better in order to, to make sure that things don't repeat themselves.

And that's why, of course, we read a book like Mein Kampf. But that is, wonderful. The whole idea of providing an education like this is really to give students an opportunity to pursue the things that interest them, and to really have a broad education. And I think you're the first person, Abby, that I've ever heard, that not only took all the core math curricula, but all of the, extracurricular math courses as well. Not extracurricular, but electives. Do you plan to do that in college, too?

Abby Bellucci:
I'm not sure yet. We'll have to see.

Marlin Detweiler:
You know, you probably don't know what all they have to offer yet. It could be quite a variety. Yeah. Where do you. Do you have any idea where you'd like to go to med school?

Abby Bellucci:
I haven't thought that far out yet.

Marlin Detweiler:
Very good. Well, we look forward to you graduating. Will you be at the End of Year Gathering to walk in graduation?

Abby Bellucci:
Yes, I will be.

Marlin Detweiler:
Well. That's wonderful. Look forward to having you in Lancaster. Guys, thank you so much. Anything. Any last words to offer to students that might be considering Veritas or their parents?

Jen Bellucci:
Yeah. So I think one of the things that, you know, I didn't necessarily mention, but is worth mentioning, is that we were a CC family for about three years prior to coming to Veritas. And, when we're looking at our next steps and Challenge A, we knew that everything had to be in a box where everybody takes the same classes.

And that's one thing that we've really appreciated about Veritas is there's not a box that says, this is sixth grade, this is seventh grade, this is eighth grade. It's pick and choose the classes that work best for you. And so, like Abby did, Spanish with her siblings, or her sister. Her sister's done classes with her brother or her brothers in classes with our other sister. So we've shared a lot of classes, even though it's a two year age gap per child.

Marlin Detweiler:
Yeah. And with the variety like that, or the approach where you can take what you want to, that's what gave you the opportunity to take all the math classes. That would have been very difficult to do in most circumstances. It's exciting to hear. I love math and to hear somebody doing that, that I'm kind of envious.

Jen Bellucci:
Yeah. Do you want to tell them how you took your business math class?

Abby Bellucci:
Yeah, one of my friends told me she was taking business math over the summer, and I should take it with her for fun, and so I did.

Marlin Detweiler:

That's great. But, you know, in most classical education, people don't think of the value of a business math class. And that was something that was important to me because I remember when I took it in college, and it was one of the most practical classes and understanding, finance and other things from a pure math standpoint. I hope you got the same benefit.

Abby Bellucci:

Yes.

Marlin Detweiler:

Very good. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. And, folks, thank you for joining us on another episode of Veritas Vox. The voice of classical Christian education. We hope to see you next time. Thanks again guys.

Jen Bellucci:

Thanks. Bye, Marlon.

Marlin Detweiler:

Bye bye.